KOTA KINABALU: The federal government will evaluate whether to continue or amend the existing law prohibiting public use of parabolic satellite dishes.
Ministry of Information Communication and Culture (MICC) secretary-general Datuk Seri Kamaruddin Siaraf said several factors would have to be considered before any decision could be made.
He said his ministry together with the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) were preparing a proposal paper on the matter to be submitted for the government’s consideration.
“The government has not made any decision yet, but we will bring the matter up to the cabinet to be decided, whether it (the law) should be retained as what it is now or not.
“We will submit a paperwork; I am aware of the issue and we will give our opinion to the cabinet and let the cabinet decide. If they say we should allow (public use of satellite dishes), then we will allow, and if they say we should prohibit, then we will prohibit.
“The ministry, together with MCMC, is preparing the paperwork as we speak, but as for now the law remains as it is. There is no amendment yet,” he said to reporters here, yesterday.
He was asked about the call from Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai to do away with the “ridiculous” restrictive law after officiating at the key handing over ceremony of the Kota Kinabalu Integrated Broadcasting Complex.
Kamaruddin said the matter needed to be considered carefully as it involved allowing young viewers to access a huge number of foreign television channels with inappropriate contents.
“What is requested (by Sabah) is quite difficult as it means making more than 600 channels available to viewers. You must remember that (although) freedom to information is for everyone, the government of course has to consider (various factors).
“The problem with having these channels is that we need to think about our children, because we want to create a society with a strong culture.
“Nevertheless, we’ll take into consideration all aspects; private competition, social issues and so on, and we’ll put them up to the cabinet,” he said.
He added that the government also needed to take into account that Malaysia was going digital next year, where it had targeted to improve television broadcasting penetration to at least 98 per cent of the whole country.
“At that level where everybody is well connected, the government will need to consider whether parabola is still relevant,” he said.
He said at the moment several areas in rural Sabah and Sarawak had been given exception and allowed to use parabolic satellite dishes as TV reception in their areas was still poor but in general, Malaysians were now already well connected.
According to Kamaruddin, he had yet to receive any official request from either Sabah or Sarawak on the issue.
“However, it doesn’t have to be the state government per se, a deputy chief minister has suggested to us, so we’ll still have to consider it,” he said.
A license from MCMC is required for importing and using parabolic dishes, and at the moment only hotel operators and companies are allowed to install the equipment.
Individual applicants, bar those in exempted areas, are prohibited from using it to access available international TV channels.
Meanwhile, at the function earlier, Kamaruddin said his ministry was working to acquire allocations to further beautify and install additional facilities at the newly completed RM71 million complex.
He said a fully equipped auditorium was expected to be built withing the compound of the 16.92 acre complex located near Malaysia Open University (MOU) at Jalan Kepayan-Petagas By-Pass.