By: Sonny Zulhuda
IN Bahasa, this Roundtable takes as a topic: MAKSIAT SIBER (Literally: Cyber Evil).
This was a short note from the discussion room of the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Institute for Social Science Studies (IPSAS) in October 2024. Upon their invitation, I and representatives from various elements of society in Malaysia discussed social issues that are increasingly disturbing and prevalent in the cyber environment in Malaysia. Among the topics that emerged were incidents of online fraud, online pornography, online prostitution and online gambling.
In this forum, which takes the form of a roundtable discussion, each participant conveys his views from their respective perspectives: social studies (UPM), legal and legislative studies (IIUM), religion and da’wah (JAKIM and YADIM), civil society (NGO Malaysian Cyber Society), profession media, technical forensics and also from the civil service (lawyer) and police (PDRM) professions.
This diversity of perspectives is the main value of this forum and is also added to by empirical data in the field. We agree that this issue is very serious and needs to be addressed comprehensively by all elements of government, industry and society.
I said in the forum that the narrative of “cyber sin” or “cyber evil” is interesting because it engages a social approach that does not only focus on elements of the law, which are most of time more reactive in nature. In the discourse of cyberspace regulation, this narrative focuses more on the issue of values compared to the formality of the law. law. The comparison in Indonesia is the MUI fatwa narrative on social media, for example.
This regulatory approach that is based on values or norms is recognized by Harvard cyber scientist Prof. Lawrence Lessig as one of the important elements in regulating the Internet. In a culture of religious and cultured societies such as Indonesia and Malaysia, approach is very important to prioritize.
But we all agree that this is hard work that must be shouldered together. Even though it is hard, we need to do it to protect our children and grandchildren. So it is not an exaggeration if I consider the issue of Internet regulation and governance as an issue of human existentialism.
Thank you Dr. Jufitri Bin Joha for the invitation from IPSAS UPM to contribute thoughts on this topic. Let’s keep it up.
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