3 April 1997
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Inter Press Service, April 2, 1997
MALAYSIA: CYBER LAWS PASSED TO SUPPORT HIGH-TECH DREAMS
PENANG - Malaysia is busy implementing a network of "cyber laws"
to support its plans for transforming the country into a hub for
multimedia commerce.
Among the government's plans is to be the first country in the
world to set up a "cyber court," a minister in the Prime
Minister's department said recently.
With advanced cyber laws to make this possible, the country
would be "the first on-line reference center for criminal cases
world-wide," the official said.
Since March 24, parliament has passed several new "cyber
bills" in its current session. The bills cover computer crimes,
digital signature, intellectual property protection, and
telemedicine development.
These are the first steps in setting up a regulatory framework
to support companies involved in multimedia commerce
located in the proposed 50 kilometer by 15 kilometer
Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) south of Kuala Lumpur.
The Super Corridor project is being pushed by Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad, who sees it as a high-tech paradise that
will transform Malaysia into Southeast Asia's technology
heavyweight.
The Super Corridor would combine business incentives with
advanced computer technology and skills to provide a hub for
hundreds of multimedia and information-technology firms.
But for this to be successful and attract investors, Malaysia
would have to demonstrate its adherence to upholding
intellectual property rights. Indeed, experts say this is the real
aim of the country's new cyber laws, even if they cannot at
once be implemented.
For instance, opposition leader Lim Kit Siang asked how
Malaysia can have the world's first cyber court "when its
judicial system has not yet gone on-line, while other countries
are already quite advanced in electronic usage in their
administration of justice."
Mustafa Annuar, a lecturer in mass communications, said,
"The new legislation is a way to impress on investors that
Malaysia means business in copyright protection." He added,
"The cyber bills are more to protect the international players
in the MSC and to encourage them to come over here."
But Mustafa says such strict cyber laws would mainly benefit
Western software creators, while computer users in the
developing world would have to fork out large sums to buy
software.
The government also plans to pursue two other laws on
information technology. The fate of these bills on multimedia
convergence and electronic government remains uncertain for
now pending further study.
The bill on electronic government will be crucial when
Malaysia's new administrative capital, Putrajaya, is ready.
Putrajaya, which lies in the Super Corridor, will be the center
of electronic government.
In the meantime, Lim urged the government to allow full
public discussion of the proposed cyber laws. He said
Malaysians are entitled to know how the government plans to
fulfill its pledge to provide the region's best copyright
protection and cyber laws in order to carve a niche for itself
in high technology.
The bills have not been circulated to the public. The
Malaysian Medical Association and the Malaysian Bar
Council, whose members will be affected by the cyber laws,
have not been consulted.
Experts say the scope of the computer crimes bill must be
wide enough to cover every possible crime. "We want the
definition of the law in the bill to be wide enough to cover
stealing of data," said professor Khaw Lake Tee.
After all, she said that in cyberspace "an unauthorized person
can just enter a system and copy information, which amounts
to stealing." The bill, she said, should also clarify whether
computer evidence is admissible in court.
While these cyber bills should beef up the country's
technology backbone, critics say they are not a total solution
to computer hacking or to threats to integrity of computer
networks.
Recently, a computer hacker easily tampered with Telekom
Malaysia's Internet home page. Lim cites a United States
General Accounting Office report that say computers of the
U.S. Defense Department was subjected to 160,000 attacks
in 1995.
Others fear the right to privacy may be affected once all
databases in the country are linked, as is the eventual plan.
"Protection of privacy through data protection legislation is
necessary in an information society," Lim said. He said the
vast flows of all kinds of personal information through
computer networks, such as credit card information,
transaction processing and health information, made such
laws vital.
Mustafa agrees that "free flow of information can be very
beneficial to business people and the government, but all this
at the expense of the citizens' right to privacy."
He notes the irony in the fact that while Malaysia talks about
leaping into the era of high technology -- which entails
opening up and expanding the freedom of information -- it
still has laws that can be used to clamp down on dissent.
"Surely along with these cyber laws one should also think of
repealing laws that hinder the free flow of information such
as the Official Secrets Act," says Mustafa. "It should go hand
in hand."
With free flow of information on the Internet, there should be
more room for freedom of expression in society, Mustafa
argues. Thus, he says the Official Secrets Art and the
Printing Presses and Publications Act, both of which have
been pinpointed as curtailing media freedom, should be
repealed.
Social campaigners have long been calling for these laws to
be replaced with a new Freedom of Information Act. Such a
law, they argue, would propel Malaysia into the Information
Age faster than a string of cyber bills.
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