MCA vice-president Gan Ping Sieu, who had earlier urged the federal government to review the controversial amendment to the Evidence Act 1950, said he respects the decision of MCA leadership to support Section 114A.

"I have reflected my views at the central committee meeting and I respect the collective decision of the CC," he told Malaysiakini last night.

NONE Gan ( left ) said this when asked about his party central committee's decision yesterday to continue to support Section 114A of the Evidence Act and called for greater engagement with the public from the government where implementation was concerned.

Although reviewing the amendment was a better option to plug its weaknesses, the deputy youth and sports minister added, the MCA suggestion to have well-defined guidelines for its implementation could also ensure that the amendment would not be abused.

"The suggestion to have guidelines more or less meets my objective... If the amendment cannot be reviewed, there must be guidelines to ensure that innocent people will not be victimised," he explained.

Problems for innocent Internet users

Gan had in a statement earlier pointed out that Section 114A of the Evidence Act could cause problems for innocent Internet users if they were subject to hacking or identity theft, while other service providers such as cybercafes, coffee shops and shopping malls could be affected by the law as well.

azlan "For example, if an irresponsible individual comes to my Facebook page and posts defamatory messages or hatred remarks, but I wasn't able to keep track of all the comments on my page, am I to be held responsible in the event of such comments are quoted, even though they did not originate from me?" he asked.

"To extrapolate such a scenario even further, private companies providing free Internet services, such as shopping malls or even federal and state governments intending to provide free WiFi services to the public, could be also be victims of this law.

However, Gan had stressed that it was necessary for the government to come up with proper measures to combat hate speech on the Internet as userswere anonymous.

"However, at this point in time, Section 114A of the Evidence Act does not seem to be able to fulfil this purpose completely," he had said in the statement.

Gan is among a small group of BN leaders to have expressed concern about Section 114A. Others include Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and deputy minister Saifuddin Abdullah .

Following a successful online protest dubbed ' Internet Blackout Day ' on Tuesday, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak instructed the cabinet to discuss the controversial amendment, but the cabinet meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Wednesday decided to stand its ground .