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Amendment not justified, say groups |
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Sunday, 27 May 2012 |
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The Star
PETALING JAYA: The amendment to the Evidence Act transfers the burden of proof
to the accused, which is contrary to the principle of justice, said lawyers and
Internet users.
“At any trial, whether criminal or civil cases, it is up to the prosecutor to
prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Now the burden will be shifted to the
accused to disprove (the allegation against them),” said human rights lawyer
Edmund Bon.
He added: “All around the world where there is Internet any reasonable person
would be against the posting of hate messages. But whether the Government should
step in and take such control is another matter.”
Disputing that the amendment will bring more people to justice, Bon said that it
will instead reduce the need for the police and other enforcement agencies to be
thorough in their investigations.
He believed that current defamation and sedition laws were enough to curb
offensive and criminal messages on the Internet.
Intellectual property lawyer and Kuala Lumpur Bar Information Technology
Committee co-chairman Foong Cheng Leong said the amendment would be a source of
harassment to people whose identities have been abused to send offensive or
threatening messages.
“Say it is an elderly person who subscribes to the Internet and does not know
how to secure his wifi account.
“If someone uses that unsecured wifi to upload all these offensive postings,
it's the elderly man who will get into trouble,” he said.
However, he agreed that it was difficult to trace the author of the offensive
material, especially when international servers or public computers are used.
“But changing the law is taking the easy way out,” said Foong, who authored an
extensive article about the amendment on the Loyar Burok website.
Meanwhile, many have tweeted their disapproval for the amendment, claiming that
people would have to “flip over backwards to prove their innocence”.
At the same time, some have voiced their support for the amendment, especially
those who have been on the receiving end of hate messages.
“These anonymous writers of hate messages against me are gutless and stupid.
“They help justify the Government's proposal to amend the Evidence Act,” tweeted
lawyer Roger Tan who had been criticised for writing a critique on the recent
Malaysian Bar extraordinary general meeting.
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