CMA may be amended to strengthen fight against child pornography - Fahmi

PETALING JAYA - The Communications and Digital Ministry is studying whether the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA) should be amended to bring it in line with efforts to set up a special police team to combat child pornography.

Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the Cabinet felt that there was a need to revisit certain laws in an effort to provide better protection to children and women against pronographic activities and sexual violence.

"This is something which we will make a full announcement on once we have begun a series of engagements across different ministries.

"For example, the Communications and Multimedia Act, whether there are parts of the law that need to be amended in order to save and protect women and children, while not necessarily curbing whatever commitments the government has made to IT companies before,” he told reporters after opening the Selangor PKR information convention at a hotel near here today.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, when tabling Budget 2023 on Friday, said a special team under D11 Unit of the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) would be established exclusively to combat child pornography and would cooperate with various agencies to apprehend the perpetrators involved.

On the ministry's engagement yesterday with Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) and all telecommunications service providers to discuss 5G coverage in the country, Fahmi said a decision on whether to maintain the single wholesale network model in rolling out the network would be reached by the end of March.

"More importantly we want to have 5G coverage in 80 per cent of populated areas throughout the country by the end of 2023, and the price should be reasonable to the people," he said, adding that a decision on the cooperation between DNB and telecommunications companies in implementing the 5G network would also be reached soon.

He said the engagement session discussed, among other things, the need for DNB to be managed in a more transparent and open manner.

Last January, Fahmi was reported as saying that the ministry was expected to make an announcement on the 5G implementation by DNB with several improvements by the end of March.