THE bill for the establishment of the Malaysian Media Council (MMC) is expected to be tabled in parliament by March next year, said Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil. 

He said as of now, the process required a memorandum to be submitted to cabinet. 

“We have to go through that process first, subsequently through the AGC (Attorney-General’s Chambers) and then to parliament. 

“We hope that before end of the year either in the October session or February or March 2024 session, the bill can be tabled,” he told the media after his ministry’s monthly gathering today. 

On May 3, Fahmi was reported as saying that the government was looking into several bills relating to the media, including the draft bill for the formation of the MMC to ensure press freedom in the country. 

He said the MMC draft bill was currently at the discussion stage among media organisations, related companies, and media practitioners’ associations. 

Meanwhile, on the data leakage incident involving Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Fahmi said the Personal Data Protection Department (PDPD) had contacted the university to ensure UiTM filled out the data leakage notification form and gave its cooperation in several matters. 

“I understand that PDPD should be getting the information today. So far, I have not received any update, but I hope we can identify what happened and prevent a recurrence,” he said. 

He said priority should be given to amendments to the Personal Data Protection Act to ensure that data holders understood important aspects of data storage and data management, and exercised more caution in future. – Bernama, May 11, 2023.