Govt mulls new cyber crime law, expects Bill to be tabled in July sitting, says Saifuddin

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is looking to introduce a new federal cyber crime law which is expected to be tabled in Parliament in July this year, says Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

The Home Minister admitted in the Dewan Rakyat that cyber crimes are getting more complex, sophisticated and dynamic and the elements under the existing laws are not up to date.

"If everything goes as planned, a new Act will be tabled in the July sitting related to the government's efforts to deal with cyber security threats," he said in reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan (PN-Kota Baru) during Question Time on Thursday (Feb 16).

Takiyuddin had asked the government to state its efforts to deal with cyber security threats and data leaks that can lead to activities related to job scammers.

Saifuddin said the government is also considering forming a single entity body from several existing agencies to deal with such threats.

"From there, it will be easier for us to get experts on the subject matter.

"If we use from the existing channel, from the normal public employment scheme and from the regular ranks, it will not be interesting as we need specific expertise on the subject.

"And the government realised that the current structure is not enough so we are moving towards that," he said.

He hoped that the proposed new law would receive the backing from both sides of the political divide.

On the initial question, he revealed that there were a total of 339 Malaysian citizens who had fallen victim to job scams in countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and even Dubai.

"From that number, a total of 218 have been rescued while 121 individuals are still stranded.

"As we speak, a team of police are in Thailand on a mission to rescue the victims there," he said.

He said that the Home Ministry and Wisma Putra are working together to bring all the victims back home.