The Bill was approved through a bloc vote, with 59 MPs in favour, 40 against, one abstention, and 122 absent.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, in winding up the debate on the Bill, said that Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588) was not repealed to prevent the misuse of networks for commercial purposes, particularly for selling pornography and facilitating paedophilia.
"The fundamental issue with Section 233 is network misuse. If the entire section were repealed, it would allow scammers and paedophiles to operate unchecked," he said.
As for Section 211, Fahmi clarified that it did not apply to the general public but was specific to content application service providers (CASP) licence holders, with penalties adjusted to align with current developments.
"The existing fines in this Act are based on 1998 currency values. Considering the telecommunications industry's growth, many fines imposed are disproportionate to the revenue of today's telco companies. Thus, we see the need for adjustments," he explained.
The Bill amends Section 211, replacing the term "offensive content" with "indecent content and others." It also revises Section 211(b)(1) by removing the phrase "or any other person using the content application service" and replacing "offensive" with "grossly offensive."
Section 211(c) changes the term "person" to "content application service provider" and increases the penalty from "fifty thousand" to "one million."
Among other proposals, the Bill outlines punishments for offences against children under 18, with a maximum of five years’ imprisonment, a fine of RM500,000, or both.
Clause 91(c) introduces a new subsection to Section 233, imposing higher penalties for offences involving children under 18, classifying such acts as arrestable offences. The new subsection also stipulates an additional fine of RM5,000 for each day or part of a day that the offence continues after conviction.
Clause 91(a)(i) proposes replacing "offensive" with "grossly offensive" in Section 233(1), while Clause 91(a)(ii) introduces new offences related to fraud and deceit targeting individuals.
-- BERNAMA
