29 cases investigated for insulting Islam, monarchy

(Bernama) – The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) have investigated 29 cases until June for allegedly insulting Islam and the royal institution, the Dewan Negara was told today.

Communication and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said an individual was fined RM20,000 by the Sessions Court when he was found guilty for insulting the Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim on a Facebook account.

“The MCMC also received 36 complaints over remarks allegedly insulting Islam. However, the use of Facebook, Twitter and blogs cannot be fully controlled,” he said when replying to a question from Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar.

Ahmad Shabery said the MCMC had launched the “Klik dengan Bijak” campaign to encourage Internet users to exercise self-restrain, educate them on the good and the bad of social networking, and what could and could not be trusted on social sites.

To a supplementary question from Abdul Rahman on whether the ministry planned to impose registration and deposit on social site users, Ahmad Shabery said the ministry has no such plan.

He said the Communications and Multimedia Act, Sedition Act and Defamation Act were sufficient to regulate activities of social sites, including Facebook which has 15 million accounts.