21/2/2018 1 Comment Freedom of Information in MalaysiaThe protection of freedom of information is still indeterminate in Malaysia
I. Introduction As the popular saying goes, “the control of information is the tool of the dictatorship.” Further reiterated by the European Court of Human Rights,[1] it is undisputable that access to information is crucial to the notion of transparency and good governance. The right to freedom of information is important for the access to government-held information, which concerns public interest. It is not only a right guaranteed under multiple international declarations and covenants,[2] but also a limb to the coveted right of freedom of expression.[3] Information relating to corruption of public officials, government development projects, embezzlement of public funds by officials, et cetera will not be available to the public without the right to freedom of information. This right is crucial for journalists worldwide as it champions press freedom and its power to report on any matter which the public has the right to know. With that, the public is empowered to monitor the integrity of the government and is assisted in making an informed choice in elections upon their scrutiny of government integrity. Despite international recognition, the protection of such a right in Malaysia is still indeterminate. A 1999 resolution endorsed by the Commonwealth Heads of Government, with Malaysia included, declared that the right to freedom of information should be guaranteed as a legal and enforceable right.[4] Malaysia is also a signatory to the ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights (ADHR) which endorses all rights stated under the UDHR, thus impliedly recognising the right to freedom of information.[5] However, the position taken by the legislative and the judiciary proves the contrary.
1 Comment
E-commerce is a new form of business which heavily incorporates technology, and lawmakers need to keep up by enacting laws which are able to adapt in order to curb arising legal concerns. I. The Evolution of Electronic Commerce – A Brief Introduction We live in an era where almost everything is available in a digital form or at least undergoing a phase of digitalisation process. What digitalisation process simply means is that despite atoms can construct almost everything in the physical world, from a human kidney to a high speed train, bits, on the other hand, is the basic fundamental block of the digital world. The revolution of digitalisation started in the early 1980’s. The revolution was triggered as computers started moving into homes from workplaces and research laboratories. The first ever conventional media that embarked into, and adopted digitalisation, was the music industry on a business and logical sense that information converted from atoms to bits are generally cheaper to store and encode while significantly reducing the distribution cost. Technological advancement has grown and is continously growing on a rapid scale in recent years. This plays a direct link to the survival of most businesses. The most recent would be the fall of Nokia which has been successfully acquired by Microsoft. The direct and most apparent contributor to the acquisition was said to be the failure of Nokia to learn and keep abreast with technological changes that has led to their failure to survive. |
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