KUALA LUMPUR : Datuk Seri
Najib Razak said tonight Putrajaya will discuss the controversial amendment to
the Evidence Act after much of Malaysian cyberspace blacked out to protest the
law that threatens freedom of expression on the Internet.
The Prime Minister's comment
came after at least three Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers called for a review
of Section 114A of the law, which presumes guilt and responsibility for
comments made online.
"I have asked Cabinet
to discuss section 114A of the Evidence Act 1950. Whatever we do we must put
people first," Najib posted in his Twitter microblogging site tonight.
Deputy Higher Education
Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Umno Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin, and MCA
Senator Gan Ping Sieu added their backing to a growing chorus of protest
against the new law.
The campaign against the new
law that threatens to curtail freedom of expression online here has widened
with more organisations promising to take down their websites in the Internet
Blackout Day tomorrow.
The Centre for Independent
Journalism Malaysia (CIJ) said the Bar Council has confirmed they will be
taking down their website to support this while the DAP is also shutting down
all its websites on August 14.
Tech-savvy DAP leader Lim
Kit Siang and human rights lawyer Edmund Bon have pledged to go offline for 24
hours while others will support a pop-up to promote the Stop 114A campaign.
They include Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, Hishamuddin Rais (Tukar Tiub),
Uppercaise, Nat Tan, Niki Cheong, Anil Netto, Juana Jaafar, Sarawak Bloggers,
Fahmi Fadzil and myasylum.
The new law was passed by
the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara in April this year and was gazetted on July 31 by de facto law Minister Datuk Seri
Nazri Aziz.
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