KUALA LUMPUR: A review committee will determine whether Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) faces any penalties over technical disruptions reported during the first five days of implementing the new Next Generation Emergency Services 999 (NG999) platform.
Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil told the Dewan Negara today that a recent meeting between his ministry, the Health Ministry (MOH), and TM had resolved the issues.
Held at TM headquarters with the Health Minister, the meeting addressed several matters related to the system’s implementation.
“Several issues have been addressed, and to date, there are no more problems with the system.
“Most involved personnel matters, which have since been reorganised by TM and the Health Ministry.
“That too has been managed well, so Alhamdulillah, there are no longer any outstanding issues,” he said during his ministry’s winding-up session in the Upper House.
Responding to Senator Dr A. Ligeshwaran’s question on possible action against TM, Fahmi said the matter would be reviewed by a joint committee set up to assess any potential breaches.
“If there are penalties to be imposed, I leave it to the review team. If the findings confirm a breach, we will follow what is stipulated in the signed contract,” he added.
Fahmi said that NG999 falls under TM’s responsibility as the telecommunications infrastructure provider, which receives initial emergency calls before channeling them to recipient agencies, including the MOH, the police, the Fire and Rescue Department, the Civil Defence Force, and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
The minister also noted that NG999, developed to replace the Malaysian Emergency Response Services (MERS999), has a total allocation of RM1.25 billion covering development and operations over 12 years.
He said the implementation followed all procedures, including the User Acceptance Test (UAT), which had been verified by MOH.
“When the system went live, all processes and procedures were followed. This means the MOH had also agreed to sign the UAT. These are among the preliminary findings from the Communications Ministry and MOH review,” he said.
On child safety online, Fahmi said the government is studying a proposal to set a minimum age of 16 for social media users under the Online Safety Act, which will be detailed through subsidiary instruments and the Child Protection Code.
Between January 2022 and Nov 30 this year, 1,569 takedown requests involving obscene content related to children were submitted to social media platforms, with 95 per cent removed. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) received 52,315 takedown requests involving cyberbullying content, of which 76 per cent were removed.
In addressing online gambling, 458,697 takedown requests for gambling-related content were submitted, with 96 per cent removed, while 6,247 online gambling sites were blocked.
On local digital games development, Fahmi said the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) continue to support creative content. Between 2022 and 2024, 58 digital game projects were supported through the Digital Content and Creative Technology Fund (DKK), and 38 creative intellectual properties were produced.
Regarding cable maintenance in rural areas, Fahmi said the responsibility lies with service providers or companies involved in infrastructure installation and maintenance, including fibre-optic cables.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
