Special court for online gambling offenders in Malaysia

Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, minister in the Malaysian prime minister’s office, announced to local media Wednesday that a new special court dealing specifically with cybercrimes will be introduced in September this year.

The minister explained that the special court would be structured and motivated in a similar fashion to those which already exist to handle crimes involving corruption, profiteering and the environment.

“The government is of the view that the time has arrived for a Special Cyber Court to be created, due to the trend of worrying cyberattacks such as hacking, online fraud, botnets, web-defacement, information theft, espionage, online gambling and pornography,” the minister said in a statement.

She revealed that a Cabinet memorandum on the formation of the new court will be presented soon, while the pioneer phase is set to take place in Kuala Lumpur in September. Other cyber courts will then be introduced in a phased plan for other provinces, beginning with Selangor and Johor.

Judges appointed to the new court will be given comprehensive training to ensure proper functionality, she said.