Cabinet agrees to amend two communications acts

The cabinet yesterday agreed to amend the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588) and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act 1998 (Act 589), to provide stronger legal provisions to face cyber security threats.

Communication and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa said he tabled the proposed amendments to the cabinet yesterday.

“Hopefully in the next Parliament sitting, we can table the amendments of both acts. Among others, the amendments hope to look into the possibilities of strengthening and having sufficient provisions to implement the cyber security aspect,” he added.

He told reporters this after launching Axiata Cyber Fusion Center in conjunction with Celcom Business Tech Week Showcase 2022 at its headquarters today.

Annuar said the amendments are crucial as the country’s telecommunication ecosystem is facing threats of online fraud and hacking by irresponsible individuals.

As a result of the threats, he invited the board of directors from four entities under his ministry to discuss cyber security issues holistically last week.

The four entities are the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Cyber Security Malaysia (Cyber Security) and the Department of Personal Data Protection (JPDP).

“The discussion was to give my picture, perspective and hopes as the minister responsible, as I felt we are not doing enough (efforts) and the public needs some kind of assurance that could protect them.

“So through the discussion, I would like to see various angles which could be taken against cases of scams and many others,” he said.

Food supply data

Meanwhile, Annuar as the chairperson of the Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation said there is a need to have an agency which can assist the government to control the data of food supply such as chicken so that there would be no disruption in future.

He said to obtain the data, the agency may benefit from technology such 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) to implement the application.

“As an example, if all farmers can install IoT technology, we will be able to gather chicken supply data apart from depending on automation to make the poultry industry more efficient,” he added.

- Bernama