RAIS: PEOPLE AWARE OF INTERNET LAWS

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysians are aware of the existence of the communication and multimedia laws but some choose not to respect them, Information Communication and culture Minister Dr Rais Yatim said Monday.

"They are aware. The only problem is they simply do not bother to respect
the law. They think the law will not catch up with them," he said after opening
the national gathering of officers of the Special Affairs Department here.

He said Internet users must be careful of actions that could be regarded as
divisive and a threat to national security as well as pornography, especially
that involving children.

A Cultural Arts and Heritage Academy (Aswara) student, Mohamad Tasyrif
Tajudin, 25, was recently charged in court over his comments in the social
networking website, Facebook.

Dr Rais said there were 280 provisions in the Penal Code and the people
could not possibly be expected to know all of them but knowing the criminal
elements was enough for them to avoid involvement," he said.

On the portal of blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who is said to be operating
overseas, he said the government could not do anything about it.
-- BERNAMA