Firm's 'safer internet' pitch to PM triggers demand letter from MCMC

The MCMC has served a letter of demand to an IT security company over its letter sent to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that raised red flags over alleged stalled execution in making the internet safer for Malaysians.

The letter of demand, dated Aug 28, was served via Messrs Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill, asking the company to issue an unreserved apology to the MCMC and Anwar within seven days, where the apology will be served in a manner that the commission will approve.

The MCMC also demanded that the company give their undertaking to cease and desist from publishing their claims made in the letter addressed to Anwar, as well as for the company to bear the legal costs.

Should the company fail to adhere to these demands, the law firm said it will not hesitate, on behalf of its client, to pursue legal action to seek damages, injunctive relief, and other relief deemed fit by the court.

MCMC claimed the content of the company’s letter was baseless, highly defamatory and could convey the commission as subject to improper influence and incompetent, adding that the statements gravely damaged its reputation as an independent regulatory body, as entrusted under the MCMC Act 1998.

The statements, it added, are bereft of truth, fallacious, and recklessly disparage them before the highest government office and cast aspersions on their impartiality and effectiveness.

Letter’s content

The March 12 letter, sighted by Malaysiakini, was signed by the company’s chairperson, who is a member of royalty.

It highlighted the alleged delay on MCMC’s part to execute on a proposal to help block dangerous content materials on social media platforms, including child pornography, online scams and gambling.

The chairperson said the company, which will be an exclusive distributor of Netsweeper, has completed the proof of concept in its proposal to cooperate with MCMC and local internet service providers (ISP) to provide a country-wide internet solution that would create vast benefits to Malaysia, among other financial and legal benefits.

Netsweeper is a Canadian-based company that specialises in providing solutions for web content filtering and threat management.

According to the letter further, the company claimed to have been engaging with MCMC since October 2022 on this proposal, but they were not able to push the project through.

“ISP seems to have a power over MCMC and somehow has lost its way on understanding Netsweeper’s country-wide administration solution (following their claims) that ISP is the same as Netsweeper.

“ISP is doing a great job with building towers, selling cell phones and building networks, but they cannot create (nor deliver) the same outcome as Netsweeper’s solution (in protecting Malaysia’s internet sovereignty).

“(And) every day that passes, Malaysia is losing the benefits (or) money and the Internet is getting worse for its citizens, banks and enterprises,” said the letter.

In outlining the company’s concerns, the chairperson claimed MCMC seems to have hit a stall for these important, never-ending problems.

The company requested Anwar’s assistance to get it back on track, as it requires a political will to enforce this proposed solution to protect internet sovereignty.

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