Act to be amended to block sites from slandering national leader - Salleh

The amendment to the Communications and Multimedia Act which is expected to be tabled in Parliament in March will coordinate enforcement to block sites from defaming the national leadership, says Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak.

He said other items to be blocked were articles and postings which threatened peace and stability in the country as well as those violating the Sedition Act.

"As soon the approval from the Attorney-General is obtained, it would be submitted to the Cabinet and it could be tabled in March if there is an opportunity," he told reporters after opening the 2016 Malaysian Social Media Week here today.

Salleh said the amendments on the authority of the government in enforcing various acts to control social media abuse would be explained to the people.

Asked on the Sarawak Report, he said even though the blog was blocked the blog operator moved to other sites.

He also said the amendment would be implemented to enable the government block these sites.

"Sarawak Report has been spreading unfounded slanders and so if we did not stop them, the people would be confused with unfounded lies," he said.

Salleh said he had chaired the first meeting of the committee on combating social media abuse on Tuesday which agreed to coordinate enforcement by referring to 10 acts apart from enforcement of the Communications and Multimedia Commission headed by police.