Act 588: Govt To File Appeal, Court Of Appeal Decision Applicable Before Section 233 Amendment - Fahmi

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 (Bernama) -- The government has filed an application for leave to appeal to the Federal Court on the Court of Appeal's decision that the words 'offensive' and 'annoy' under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (Act 588), are unconstitutional and invalid.

Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said, however, the Court of Appeal's decision applies to the provisions of Section 233 before the amendment of Act 588 was made.

He said the government last year amended Section 233 by replacing the word 'offensive' with 'grossly offensive' by setting a higher standard to make it an offence.

The Court of Appeal made the decision on August 19.

“The government respects the decision of the Court of Appeal and has examined it from the constitutional and legal aspects and on the advice of the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), the government has now filed an application for leave to appeal to the Federal Court.

“Given that the decision of the Court of Appeal is currently in the process of being appealed to the Federal Court, it is appropriate for all parties to await the decision of the Federal Court before making any stance on the elements of ‘offensive’ and ‘annoy’ in the provisions of Section 233 of Act 588 before the amendment,” he said during a question and answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a question by Syahredzan Johan (PH-Bangi) on the government’s stance and actions regarding the decision of the Court of Appeal regarding the words ‘offensive’ and ‘annoy’ under Section 233 of Act 588.

Meanwhile, Fahmi stressed that the amendment to Section 233 is an improvement measure and best practices so that the section in question is not misused and there is no constitutional aspects.

He said the amendment does not prejudice any action that has been taken and it is up to the AGC to take action on the prosecution that has been filed.

“At the same time, for ongoing cases, it is up to the AGC to take action.

“At the government level, especially the Ministry of Communications, we see the amendment made to Section 233, has set a much higher standard, namely ‘grossly offensive’ and not just ‘offensive’, at the same time, there are six descriptions (in Section 233) for the public prosecutor, the defence and the judiciary for the adjudication process,” he said.

Fahmi was replying to a supplementary question by Datuk Dr Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (PN-Pengkalan Chepa) regarding the impact on the cases that are still in trial following the decision of the Court of Appeal on Section 233 of Act 588.

The Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision by a three-man bench on Aug 19 ruled that the words "offensive" and "annoy" in Section 233 were unconstitutional.

However, the panel held that the court's decision is to have prospective effect, so as not to resurrect the past.

The court made the ruling after allowing the appeal brought by activist Heidy Quah Gaik Li, who filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate parts of Section 233 of the previous Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

-- BERNAMA