Malaysia announced its plan of establishing a cyber court to handle online crimes, according to a local report on Tuesday.
In an interview with news agency Bernama, communication minister Shaziman Abu Mansor said there is a dramatic increase of crimes relating to the use of Internet and blogging, adding that the state’s attorney general is handling over 30 online-related cases.
Mansor also said that cyber court should be established to handle the increasing number of Internet-related cases because the government may not deal with this looming problem in the near future.
He mentioned the case of a blogger who posted offensive content against Prophet Mohammed and Islam. The accused is a Muslim woman who denied any involvement to the blog entries.
The country’s media institution is tightly controlled by the government, making Internet medium as the only way for people to express dissident beliefs and ideas. And because of the relative freedom provided by the Internet, this has become an alternative news source for most people.
Authorities have detained without trials numerous well-known online personalities including Raja Petra Kamaruddin who is the editor of Malaysia Today website and known for his hard-hitting political commentary.
Reporters Without Borders, an international media watchdog, ranked the country 132 out of 173 on its press freedom survey.
The country which has the highest press freedom is Iceland followed by Luxembourg and Norway. Meanwhile, North Korea and Eritrea were in the bottom of the worldwide index.
Top 10 countries (Worldwide press freedom index)
1. Iceland
2. Luxembourg
3. Norway
4. Estonia
5. Finland
6. Ireland
7. Belgium
8. Latvia
9. New Zealand
10. Slovakia
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