PETALING JAYA: An Online Safety Committee which will be the highest strategic advisory body to the government has been formed in line with the Online Safety Act (Onsa) 2025 that came into force Thursday (Jan 1), says Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
In a statement Friday (Jan 2), the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) said that the appointed members of the committee hailed from diverse professional backgrounds, encompassing the public sector, private sector, and civil society to ensure transparency and credibility.
Among them are experts on rights of vulnerable groups, service provider experts, lawyers and a media NGO representative.
The appointed members are Tan Sri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim as the chairperson, Datuk Lim Thean Shiang (deputy chairperson), Barhoum Abe Abed (Licensed Application Service Provider),
Mohd Kasyful Azim Ab Rahman (Licensed Network Service Provider, and Dr Ruzimi Mohamed (representative of persons with disabilities).
The members of the committee are Datuk Zurkarnain Mohd Yasin, Thiyagu Ganesan, Datuk Seri Dr Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos and Wathshlah Naidu.
“The Madani government remains committed to creating a safer online ecosystem, particularly for vulnerable groups, especially children, from the harms of increasingly complex cybercrime through the enforcement of the Online Safety Act 2025 [Act 866], which officially came into force on Jan 1,” said Azalina.
She stated that this committee was formed in line with the provisions of Section 5 of the Online Safety Act.
“The Online Safety Committee will serve as the highest strategic advisory body to guide the direction of online safety, including monitoring and providing recommendations on online content safety.
“This Committee will not merely play an administrative role; rather, it will carry out substantive functions, including advising the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on the classification of harmful content and priority content such as child sexual abuse and financial fraud; determining risk analysis methods and mitigation strategies to protect users from online harm; assessing the effectiveness of complaint mechanisms and monitoring enforcement against content that violates the law; as well as conducting technical research and expert analysis on emerging cybercrime trends, including the misuse of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and deepfakes.
“These appointments are for a term of three years, effective from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2028.
“The Government remains committed to ensuring that the right to freedom of expression is respected, while at the same time will not compromise on the safety of the people, especially vulnerable groups,” said Azalina in the statement.
In a statement on Nov 25, Azalina had said that MCMC will be the primary and sole regulator for Onsa 2025.
Onsa 2025 was passed to boost efforts to enhance online safety for children.
On Dec 3, MCMC said that Onsa 2025 introduces a more proactive regulatory framework which sets out clear responsibilities for platforms to manage high-risk content such as child sex abuse material (CSAM), pornographic content, obscene content as well as content related to self-harm.
Hasnah was the 13th Chief Judge of Malaya, who retired last November.
