Special team to deal with social media abuse to meet next week

A special team set up to deal with the misuse of social media in the country would meet next week, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Salleh Said Keruak said today.

The team comprising representatives of the Attorney-General's Chambers and the police, will investigate and offer measures to tackle the problem which is a cause of concern to the government.

"There are some social media users who abuse the medium by spreading hatred and religious extremism, which can destabilise the country and this is worrying us," said Salleh, who is chairman of the team.

He was speaking to reporters after launching the Community Information and Communications Network in Taman Tasik Permai, here, today.

He said it was normal for users of social media to criticise the government as it was part of the democratic process, however, it should not be used to sow hatred in the country.

Salleh said the ministry would also implement the plan to restore unconnected telecommunication towers in the state this month.

According to him, the restoration works would also involve several telecommunication companies that had been chosen to help speed it up.

"We will carry out the restoration plan this month. Many telecommunication towers have been erected in the state but they still do not have 'connectivity'," he said.

Apart from the issue, the ministry would also look into the need to build more telecommunication towers in the state.

In his speech earlier, Salleh praised Rimbunan Hijau Group for providing 32 free Internet hotspots in the city, as part of its corporate social responsibility.

He said the effort would especially help young entrepreneurs, who were well-versed with the use of the Internet, to expand their businesses online, and this would in turn help boost the local economy.

Rimbunan Hijau Group chairman Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King who was also present, said his company would be providing more than 30 free hotspots in Sibu soon.

According to him, the project would be implemented by the group's subsidiaries, Optical Communication Engineering (OCE) and Howddy Hotspot Sdn Bhd.

"To maximise the community's network, OCE has been working to improve the content delivery network to ensure that users can receive the content more efficiently," he said.

Tiong said due to the difficulty of using optical fibre in Sibu, OCE had considered the use of the faster 4G broadband in future, to overcome the lack of 3G broadband coverage and online congestion, especially during peak hours.

Members of the public who wish to use the hotspots can download the Howddy Mobile and UCStream applications from the Google Play Store.