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MCPF moots cyber crime committee after alarming spike in cases

Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation senior vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye speaks to the press at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in George Town September 29, 2020. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin
Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation senior vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye speaks to the press at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in George Town September 29, 2020. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin

GEORGE TOWN, Sept 29 — The Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) today proposed that the government set up a cyber crime committee due to an alarming increase in cyber crimes this year.

MCPF senior vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said the group is now in the midst of preparing a working paper on its proposal.

“We need to form a committee that involves the police, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Bank Negara Malaysia and CyberSecurity Malaysia to discuss and find effective steps to fight cyber crime,” he said during a press conference today after the opening ceremony of the MCPF Townhall Session here.

He said MCPF expects to complete the working paper on the proposal in a couple of weeks and will hand it over to the relevant ministries.

Lee said while the crime index dropped during the movement control order (MCO), cyber crimes saw a drastic increase.

Citing figures from Bukit Aman, Lee said there were 9,146 cyber crime cases involving losses amounting to RM247 million between January and July this year.

In comparison, there were a total 11,875 cases involving RM305 million losses for the whole of 2019 and 10,764 cases in 2018.

He added that there was an 80 per cent increase in cyber crimes reported between March and June this year.

“People are taking the opportunity to use cyberspace as a platform to commit fraud and cheat unsuspecting victims,” he said.

On the compliance of Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), Lee said MCPF fully supports strict enforcement by the authorities against those who flout the SOP.

“As an NGO, we are fully responsible to assist government agencies in ensuring compliance of SOP,” he said.

Meanwhile, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state security committee made the decision that all enforcement operations on entertainment outlets will be conducted by both the police and local authorities.

He said police raised the issue of conducting joint operations and the local councils have responded to join in.

“It will be a joint operation between the police and the local councils so that related premises will be shut down if they don’t comply,” he said.

Earlier in his speech, Chow said he has been “an obedient” chief minister in terms of complying with the federal government’s SOPs and instructions with regards to managing the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the state security committee has always based its decisions on feedback from the public.

“Feedback is important for us to take into account the challenges faced by the people and various industries during this pandemic,” he said.

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