‘Royal addendum — leave it to court’

 

All for good governance: Fahmi opening the International Regulatory Conference 2025 in Kuala Lumpur. — RAJA FAISAL HISHAN/The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is leaving it to the court to decide on the royal addendum related to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, says Fahmi Fadzil.

The Communications Minister, who is also the government’s spokesman, said the government had followed the procedure in implementing the official order by the Pardons Board based on the documents received.

“The details of the royal addendum, I believe, will be covered in court later.

“Let’s leave it to the court to reveal the details,” he told the press after opening the International Regulatory Conference (IRC) 2025 here yesterday.

Fahmi was asked about the government’s stance on the addendum and whether it had not honoured the recommendations made in the addendum by the previous Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

He said Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail had cleared the air on Monday over the Pardons Board’s order on halving Najib’s prison sentence and fine.

“The Home Ministry and Prisons Department, which received the letter from the Pardons Board, had adhered to all procedures and implemented them based on the law.

“Any matters related to that order came from the Pardons Board based on Article 42 of the Federal Constitution.

“The government has done its part in explaining the order,” he said.

On Monday, Saifuddin Nasution said the Home Ministry and the Prisons Department had not received any addendum order related to the former prime minister.

He said the ministry and department only executed the directive they received in a letter after the Pardons Board meeting.

Najib had succeeded in obtaining leave from the Court of Appeal in a split 2-1 decision in his appeal relating to his claims of a royal addendum order that would allow him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.

In the majority decision, the appellate court overturned the High Court’s dismissal of Najib’s application for leave to initiate judicial review of the prison time imposed on him in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.

Najib, 71, began serving a 12-year jail term in August 2022 for offences linked to the misuse of public money from former 1Malaysia Development Bhd unit, SRC International. The sentence was later halved by the Pardons Board.

On another matter, Fahmi said a total of 4,699 online content items were flagged for takedown by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in the first week of the year.

As of yesterday, he said 72% of the content was related to online gambling, while 14% was related to scams.

“All in all, about 86% of the online content marked for takedown was related to cyber crimes,” he said.

The requests for such content to be taken down came from the police following investigations.

Fahmi also highlighted the government’s proactive approach to combating emerging cyber crimes, such as deepfakes generated using artificial intelligence technology.

“Legislative enhancements have been introduced in Parliament, and we are also collaborating with social media platform operators,” he said.

In his speech, Fahmi said the MCMC had blocked more than 3.1 billion scam calls and processed nearly 12,000 complaints in 2024, in partnership with the National Scam Response Centre since October 2022.

“According to the State of Scam Report 2024, Malaysians lost US$12.8bil (RM54bil) to various scams in a single year, representing 3% of our gross domestic product,” he said.

He also said the recently launched joint operation, Ops Pedo Bersepadu with the police, targeting online child sexual abuse material, has led to the arrest of 13 individuals in six states and the seizure of some 40,000 pornographic material.

“This emphasises the critical importance of eliminating cyber threats through robust security measures... while cyber security threats, online scams and data breaches become increasingly sophisticated and widespread,” he said.

Fahmi noted that Malaysia’s chairmanship of Asean this year is a catalyst towards efforts in shaping regional initiatives and policies in the ever-advancing online space.

“The Asean chairmanship will allow us to promote harmonised regulations across the region to amplify the benefits of technology advancement for over 700 million citizens, and lead discussions on ethical communication and multimedia governance,” he said.

The two-day IRC 2025 highlighted the urgent need for collective action to address risks associated with advancing digital technologies, emphasising the importance in preventing scams, protecting users and building a secure and resilient digital ecosystem. - Star