KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 20): The government will appeal a court ruling decriminalising offensive online remarks under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
The attorney general will file the appeal to the Federal Court, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said in wrapping up the debate on the 13th Malaysia Plan in Parliament on Wednesday.
“I will monitor and follow the appeal process, and leave the matter to the Attorney General’s Chambers,” Fahmi said.
On Tuesday, the Court of Appeal declared that the terms “offensive” and “annoy” under Section 233 as unconstitutional as they violate the protection for freedom of speech under the Federal Constitution.
Section 233, which criminalises the use of network facilities or network services by a person to transmit communication that is deemed to be offensive and could cause annoyance to another, has long been criticised for enabling censorship.
Over the years, authorities have used Section 233 to investigate journalists, artist Fahmi Reza, filmmakers of Mentega Terbang, former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan and activist lawyer Siti Kasim.
Civil society organisations, including human rights activists, say the amendments are no better in protecting the freedom of expression. The bill received royal assent on Jan 27 this year and was gazetted on Feb 7.
On Wednesday, Fahmi defended the necessity of Section 233, stressing that it had been refined under the Communications and Multimedia (Amendment) Bill 2024.
“If I may state here, the final version we brought to the House is much better than the one proposed by the previous administration, which was more draconian,” he said.
The word ‘offensive’ has been replaced with ‘grossly offensive’ and the amendment provides six clear explanations on what does not constitute a crime, including satire and parody, he noted.
Under the amendment, content or information that is “confusing,” “incomplete” or “untrue” may be deemed an offence under Section 233, punishable by a fine of up to RM500,000 or imprisonment of up to two years.
Read also:
Civil society urges repeal of Section 233 criminalising offensive online remarks following landmark ruling
Appellate court rules online remarks intended to ‘annoy’ not a crime in Malaysia
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