(Petaling Jaya, Wednesday): The DAP Parliamentary Working Group on Cyberbills would meet tomorrow to consider amendments that should be made to the first batch of cyberbills which would begin to be debated in Parliament next week.
As under the Standing Orders, amendments to Bills require at least 48 hours’ notice, the DAP MPs would have to give notice of amendments latest by the end of this week.
The Parliamentary Working Group would consider proposals that at least six amendments should be proposed to the Computer Crimes Bill. Although notice of amendments to the first batch of cyberbills would have to be given this week, final decision on whether we will proceed with the amendments will be subject to the outcome of the Parliamentary Cyberbill Forum organised by the Parliamentary Information Technology (IT) Committee in Parliament House on 25th April 1997.
The Parliamentary Cyberbill Forum, which would be opened by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, would consider in depth the four cyberbills which had been tabled in the House, namely the Computer Crimes Bill, the Digital Signature Bill, the Telemedicine Bill and Copyright (Amendment) Bill.
The Parliamentary Cyberbill Forum will be divided into three sessions. The first session, from 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., will be on the Computer Crimes Bill and the Digital Signature Bill and will be chaired by the Co-Chairman of the Parliamentary IT Committee, Ruhanie Haji Ahmad.
Representatives from the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Ministry of Energy, Telecommunications and Posts would make presentations on these two Bills, followed by a panel discussion, comprising of a representative from the Royal Malaysian Police, the President of MIMOS Bhd, Tengku Datuk Dr. Mohd. Azzman Shariffadeen and information security practitioner, Dinesh Nair. This session would be wounded up with an interactive discussion from participants.
The second session, from 2.45 p.m. to 4.15 p.m., will deal with the Telemedicine Bill and the Copyright Amendment Bill and will be chaired by the Co-Secretary of the Parliamentary IT Committee, Dr. Tan Seng Giaw.
Representatives from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and the Ministry of Health would first make presentations on the Bill. This will be followed by a Panel Discussion with panellists comprising the President of the Malaysian Medical Association, Datuk Dr. Abdul Hamid Abdul Kadir, the Chairman of PIKOM, Khoo Sin Aik and advocate/solicitor Tommy Thomas. This session would also end with an interactive discussion with the participants.
The third session would be on the Multimedia Super Corridor with a presentation by the Multimedia Development Corporation Executive Chairman, Tan Sri Othman Yeop Abdullah. It would be chaired by Datuk Othman Abdul, former Parliamentary Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office.
(23/4/97)