While the Internet is not censored and web-hosting activity not regulated, action may be taken against individuals who are found to be in breach of certain provisions of Malaysia's cyberlaws.

A spokesperson for the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission - the industry's regulatory body - said that action may be taken if the content of a particular website is considered a threat to other individuals.

MCMC, which was set up by the government to implement and enforce the provisions of the communications and multimedia law, was responding to the allegations that a Malaysian web-hosting company has been hosting a network of terrorist websites.

Kuala Lumpur-based Acme Commerce was alleged to have hosted the muntada al-Ansar website, which earlier this week showed the grisly video of the beheading of Nick Berg, an American who was kidnapped in Iraq by militants said to be linked to terrorist group al-Qaeda.

While Acme Commerce said that it could not confirm whether muntada al-Ansar was hosted by them, the website has since gone offline.

A search by malaysiakini revealed that web-hosting company has also hosted at least six other terrorist-linked websites through one of its business unit, Webserver.com.my, also based in Kuala Lumpur.

Acme Commerce business manager Alfred Lim, when contacted yesterday, has vowed to unplug all websites which are linked to terrorism.

Lim added that it was difficult to monitor the content of the websites hosted by Acme Commerce since the company is managing over 5,000 sites from 45 countries.

Websites can be blocked

According to the section 3 of the Communications and Multimedia Act - the country's key cyberlaw - "nothing in this Act shall be construed as permitting censorship of the Internet".

However, action may be taken when the content is "indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or offensive in character is provided with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person".

"The MCMC may instruct Internet service providers to block the IP addresses of the websites, for the improper use of network based upon the terms of the customer agreement," said the spokesperson who declined to be named.

There are other actions which the government regulatory body can take, said MCMC.

"If the website is registered with Mynic, the website can be removed from the Domain Registry," said the MCMC spokesperson.

Mynic is a local company which manages all domain names with .my. However, a search by malaysiakini shows that the alleged terrorism websites are registered elsewhere, and not in Malaysia.

No terror base here

Meanwhile, AFP quoted Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as saying that the government will not allow local companies to host websites with links to terrorist groups.

"We will not allow any kind of web page or any kind of company operating on behalf of any terrorist organisation," Abdullah told a news conference.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar also said the government would invstigate the issue, but added: "There are so many terrorist organisations in Europe and the US, but that does not make the US or Europe a terrorist country."