The government is not in the process of drafting new laws to curb Internet abuses as announced by de facto Law Minister Rais Yatim last month.

According to Minister of Energy, Communications and Multimedia Amar Leo Moggie, the government is still studying ways and means to ensure that the Internet is not abused.

"We are currently looking at similar laws in other countries, which make people who place information on the Net more responsible," said Moggie today at a press conference after launching the PriceWaterHouseCoopers' E-tax software programme in Kuala Lumpur.

"We are exchanging views with other people to see how we can prevent Internet users from getting out of hand (in their postings)," he added.

On May 13, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Rais Yatim was quoted by The Sun newspaper as saying the Attorney-General (AG) chambers was in the final stage of drafting laws to make websites accountable for what they publish.

According to Rais, under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) the government was unable to take action against users who try to create public disorder and incite violence against the government as the it does not cover the Internet.

"I have directed the AG chambers to formulate laws, which would make it an offence for anyone to post such articles on the Internet," he said.

The PPPA makes the publication of "malicious news" punishable by jail terms and empowers authorities to ban or restrict the circulation of publications.

Moggie said while the government stands firm on its pledge not to censor the Internet, it wants to make those who post information on websites more responsible and accountable.

"The Internet is also an open system so it is not easy to implement laws. We are also looking at our own laws, especially those affecting the cyber industries, before we proceed," he added.

Mulling licensing system

The ministry's parliamentary secretary Chia Kwang Chye told Singapore's Straits Times last month that the government was concerned with the abuse of the Internet.

Nevertheless, he said the government was committed not to impose censorship as part of its Bill of Guarantees set down to promote the country's Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC).

When the MSC was conceptualised six years ago, the government announced a 10-point Bill of Guarantees that pledges to protect intellectual property rights, gives unparalleled freedom for international companies to set up base here and promises no Internet censorship.

However, the government is now in the process of formulating a content code and is looking at how that is being done in countries such as Singapore, the United States, Britain and Australia.

'We are studying and monitoring what other countries are doing, and Singapore already has a code so we are closely studying that," Chia said.

In 1996, Singapore amended the Singapore Broadcasting Authority Act to require all Internet service and content providers to apply for an operating licence.

Chia said Malaysia was studying whether such a model could be incorporated here.

The government has been keeping a close watch on a host of anti-government websites that have mushroomed since Anwar Ibrahim was sacked as deputy premier two years ago.

Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung told Parliament in May that the government was also closely monitoring the contents of the Internet websites such as malaysiakini to ensure their articles stay within the ambit of the country's laws.