Minister: MCMC investigated 1pc of over 11,000 reports from January to June

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) received 11,235 reports alleging various virtual offences in the first half of 2020, according to Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

The communications and multimedia minister disclosed this in a written parliamentary reply to Kasthuriraani Patto (PH-Batu Kawan) yesterday.

The DAP lawmaker had asked the minister to enumerate the reports lodged either with the commission or the police and for a breakdown of these by the nature of the complaint.

“[Between] January and June 2020, the MCMC received in total 11,235 complaints of various offences committed in the virtual realm...” the minister said in the reply.

Saifuddin said the alleged offences include hacking, online gambling, fraud, solicitation for prostitution, copyright infringement, forgery, harassment, bullying, pornography, incitement based on race and religion, extremism, and religious deviancy, among others.

However, he then disclosed that the commission investigated approximately 1.2 per cent of these.

“In the same period, a total of 143 cases was investigated under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 by the MCMC in relation of the abuse of social media, and seven of these have been brought to court.”

The minister contended that the MCMC was not the sole authority that could investigate the alleged offences reported, and said there were other agencies that could also take action over some of these.

The agencies included the Royal Malaysia Police; the Health Ministry; the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry; and others.

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