New minister Gobind promises better internet speed
Soo Wern Jun | May 22, 2018
Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo says doubling Malaysia's internet speed was the first item discussed in his meeting with ministry staff today.
Gobind Singh Deo speaks at a press conference on his first day at the communications and multimedia ministry.
PUTRAJAYA: Newly minted Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo says the ministry will focus on doubling the country’s internet speed in the days to come.
Speaking at a press conference on his first day of work, Gobind said this had been the first item on the agenda during his earlier meeting with ministry staff.
“We are looking into doubling the speed of internet broadband services, if possible. There were many complaints last year, and we are hoping to improve in that area.”
He said there were also other areas which he hoped to improve, including current projects under the ministry, some of which might need to be tweaked.
“For others, we will relook the necessity of continuing them. I will be calling separate press conferences for those in the next few weeks,” he said.
Gobind said another item on his to-do list was to review the Anti-Fake News Bill 2018.
“As we have said before, the bill was rushed through the last Parliament sitting and did not go through a thoroughly planned-out process.
“The bill is definitely overlapping with many existing laws. That is why we will be looking into how we can streamline the laws that overlapped with this bill.
“I am looking forward to meeting with the relevant stakeholders, including the media, to see how we can improve the bill,” he said.
Gobind said some laws were also outdated and needed to be upgraded to suit the technological advances in the media industry.
“The laws that we have are 20 years behind, and given the media world today, we need to find something that can cope with today’s media environment.”
He added that changes would be made within the ministry, which had agreed to set up a media council to review existing laws, among others.
