A non-governmental organisation has called upon the government to come up with proper guidelines for cyber cafes to prevent such businesses from being disrupted by enforcement officers.

The Malaysian Youth Council (MYC) today urged the Local Government and Housing Ministry, Energy, Telecommunications and Multimedia Ministry and state governments to decide on a proper classification for cyber cafes so that local enforcement officers can use those guidelines to check on them.

MYC vice-president Norizan Sharif said that the organisation received a complaint regarding a recent raid on a cyber caf in Gombak, Selangor.

In that incident, enforcement officers from the Selayang town council confiscated 14 monitors, 12 CPUs and 11 keyboards from the caf for operating illegally under the Entertainment and Places of Entertainment Act 1995 (Selangor).

"Why are those things confiscated under that Act when the ministry had issued a circular saying that cyber cafes are not recognised and cannot be registered under that Act," Norizan said.

"The action by the town council is definitely against the directive of the government," he added.

Norizan said that MYC reiterated its support for the government's effort in trying to stamp out unhealthy activities prevalent in video games arcades and cyber cafes.

However, MYC is also standing by its demand for more cyber cafes to encourage IT literacy in the country and that enforcement officers should not disrupt the operation of these cafes.

MYC believes that the raid was due to confusion in the classification of cyber cafes.

"The action is not surprising; it is expected," said Norizan.

He also said that the authorities should not be too hasty in acting on cyber cafes just because of the recent call by the government to ban all illegal video games arcades.

Cyber cafes should not used as a scapegoat to hide the government's failure in addressing the problems of illegal gambling all this while, he said.

MYC will be organising a roundtable conference on cyber cafes next month to discuss problems faced by operators and to encourage the setting up of more cyber cafes in the country.