FACULTY OF COMPUTER AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONS.) MATHEMATICS MANAGEMENT & BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (HONS.) BUSINESS ECONOMICS ENGLISH FOR CRITICAL ACADEMIC READING (ELC501) ASSIGNMENT: WRITTEN ARTICLE ANALYSIS PREPARED BY: NO. NAME STUDENT ID 1. MOHAMAD HAFIZUDDIN BIN MOHD HANIF 2021149791 2. MUHAMMAD AIMAN BIN MOHAMMAD ZAIDI 2021132537 3. AHMAD NA’IM BIN ABDUL HALIM 2021919543 GROUP: N4CS2902B PREPARED FOR: MISS NOOR SHAHARIAH SALLEH SUBMISSION DATE: 28 JUNE, 2021 TABLE OF CONTENT CONTENT PAGE 1. ARTICLE 1-3 2. WRITTEN ARTICLE ANALYSIS 4-6 3. REFERENCES 7 1. ARTICLE Specific Law is Needed to Stem Cyberbullying I. The general ignorance of what cyberbullying is all about might be the reason why the social menace has become pervasive in the Malaysian cyberspace. II. Malaysia Cyber Consumer Association (MCCA) president Siraj Jalil said many Internet users are not even aware that they are bullies because they do not know of the existence of certain provisions in the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 which criminalised the use of Internet facilities by any person to transmit any message deemed to be offensive and can cause annoyance to another person. III. "There is a difference between criticising and bullying and this is what many cyber users fail to understand. To them, the act of making (a video or post about certain) individuals going viral doesn't amount to bullying," he told Bernama. IV. He said Internet users who feel they are being harassed online should lodge a complaint against the perpetrator(s) to the operator of the social media platform (Facebook, Instagram and others) and the police so that action can be taken under Section 233 (1) of the Communications and Multimedia Act. V. This section states that it is deemed an offence if a person "by means of any network facilities or network service or applications service knowingly makes, creates or solicits; and initiates the transmission of any comment, request, suggestion or other communication which is obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person”. VI. Section 233(3) states that those convicted under the Act face a maximum fine of RM50,000 or a maximum one-year jail term or both, as well as a further fine of RM1,000 for every day the offence continues after conviction. VII. Siraj said MCCA, which assists victims of cyberbullying to seek justice, encourages them to email their complaints to the association at www.cyberconsumer.my/aduan. 1 VIII. Citing a case reported to MCCA recently that was eventually resolved successfully, he said it concerned a property agent who was branded a fraudster on social media by a user after a transaction involving the latter's house fell through. IX. "After the case was reported to MCCA, we contacted the person who circulated the false information. When we told him legal action can be taken against him, he immediately deleted his social media post and even apologised to the property agent concerned," said Siraj. Existing penalty inadequate X. Lawyer Muhammad Hafiz Hood, who has also handled lawsuits brought by clients who were slandered on social media, called for specific legislation to check the incidence of cyberbullying. XI. He said existing laws such as the Communications and Multimedia Act and the Penal Code may not be sufficient to control cyberbullying. XII. "Is the existing penalty (imposed on convicted cyberbullies) proportionate (to the gravity of the offence committed) and effective enough? In my opinion, no. Cyberbullying has a major impact on society, to the extent that some victims are driven to suicide," he said, citing the case of a teenage girl in Sarawak who killed herself in May after posting a poll on her Instagram account asking followers if she should die or not, and 69 percent of those who voted supported her decision to end her life. XIII. Supporting his argument for the drafting of an anti-cyberbullying law, Muhammad Hafiz said the menace could also lead to serious consequences should there be physical confrontations between the victims and the bullies. XIV. Suggesting that Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act can be the basis for the new law, he said it should also provide regulations governing Internet usage for children and teenagers. XV. He said the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia and CyberSecurity Malaysia should also step up the monitoring of social media use among adolescents and also consider making it compulsory for users to register their social media accounts in their original names. 2 XVI. "The deluge of fake accounts has led to the widespread prevalence of cyberbullying," he said, adding that the Philippines implemented the Anti-Bullying Act in 2013 to check all forms of bullying, including cyberbullying. Psychological issues XVII. Meanwhile, commenting on the psychological aspect of cyberbullying Prof Mariani Md Nor, a psychologist at the Department of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Universiti Malaya, said bullies usually suffer from psychological disorders, lack empathy and have a lower emotional and spiritual quotient. XVIII. "Such individuals are generally unstable and they tend to express their feelings on social media platforms without showing empathy," she told Bernama. XIX. According to Mariani, most cyberbullying cases involve social media users who want to unleash their dissatisfaction and resentment against certain individuals. However, she added, it can trigger bigger problems that can impact a person's emotional, psychological and social well-being. XX. Sometimes, one can embark on cyberbullying for fun, but the user may become "addicted" to wilfully hurting the feelings of others. XXI. Mariani said the trend for certain posts or videos to go viral on social media has also contributed to cyberbullying. XXII. "The trend has directly opened up great opportunities for social media users who find themselves 'committed' to give their views on any issue that has gone viral. XXIII. "They express their opinions freely, to the extent of upsetting others. Sometimes the victim will retaliate, but this will only lead to the dispute becoming bigger," she added. Bernama 25 Nov 2019, https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/501119 3 2. WRITTEN ARTICLE ANALYSIS In the article, “Specific Law is Needed to Stem Cyberbullying”, the author, Bernama stands for Berita Nasional Malaysia, deals with the issue of cyberbullying that is spreading like a virus on the Internet now, especially for social media users. They argue that a specific law for cyberbullying is needed to prevent more victims created by this issue. The author said that the broad lack of understanding of cyberbullying may be one of the factors why the social danger has spread throughout Malaysian online. According to Siraj Jalil, president of the Malaysia Cyber Consumer Association (MCCA), many Internet users are unaware that they are bullies because they are unaware of certain provisions in the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 that make it illegal to use Internet facilities to transmit any message deemed offensive or likely to cause annoyance to another person. Internet users who believe they are being harassed online should file a complaint with the operator of the social media platform as well as the police. This section states that it is illegal to harass another person using any network facilities, network service, or applications service. By that action, they may pay the fine in a huge amount or one-year in jail. The author puts an argument of lawyer, Muhammad Hafiz Hood on the current punishment for the crime of cyber bullying in Malaysia is less effective. This is based on his experience of managing defamation cases on social media, in addition there is a study that says Malaysia is among the world's top countries where parents have reported their children experiencing cyberbullying (Yap Wan Xiang, 2020). He uses a historical data on the case of a teenage girl from Sarawak who committed suicide through voting from her posting poll in Instagram in his argument. This news is legitimate news when it is also written by some leading newspapers such as The Guardian (May 15, 2019). The lawyer opined that the rules to control internet use among children and adolescents should be, and asked the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia and CyberSecurity to take action such as: ● observe the use of social media among teenagers. ● enrol their social media using their real names. The author writes his opinion in a serious tone when writing about the dumping of fake accounts on social media has widened this crime today. He also took an example of actions such as the introduction of the Anti-Bullying Act in 2013 by the Philippines which is a valid news story written by Jee Y. Geronimo on September 18, 2013. 4 The author also stated about psychological issues about cyberbullying in this article. The author also puts forth another argument from a psychologist in Universiti Malaya, Prof Mariani Md Nor. She has stated that the reasons that bullies tend to cyberbully are because of: ● psychological disorders ● lack of empathy ● lack of emotional quotient (EQ) and spiritual quotient (SQ) According to (Lai et al., 2017) and (Ghazali et al., 2017), there are more reasons for cyberbullying that would strengthen the argument which are: ● revenge ● satisfaction for oneself Prof Mariani Md Nor stated that most cyberbullies are the people that use social media as a platform to release their anger against specific people. StopItcyberbullying.com stated that cyberbullies use the platform because most people would post into social media and mobile phone applications to draw social media users’ attention (Lai et al., 2017). Moreover, cyberbullying can affect people emotionally, psychologically, or socially. According to (Ghazali et al., 2017) and (Athira, 2020), depression, anxiety, suicide, stress, and conflict are some of the effects of cyberbullying. A person could experience cyberbullying as a cyber-victim and cyberbully when spending more time on social media (Niña M. Ruiz, 2019). She also assumed viral posts contribute to cyberbullying such as memes. For instance, a Taiwanese model, Heidi Yeh, was ruined by an advertisement that became a meme. In 2012, a fake story about her spread around the world starting with her husband suing Heidi for having plastic surgery because their children looked unlike her (BBC, 2016). There are several inductive reasons identified such as the author stating that the social menace becomes spreading in Malaysian cyberspace caused by the general ignorance of cyberbullying (paragraph 1). No exception is also some deductive reasons used by the author just like Prof Mariani Md Nor stated that most cyberbullies are the people that use social media as a platform to release their anger against people (paragraph XIX). In conclusion, the author has cited some evidence in his argument in criticizing the current cyberbully laws in Malaysia. Most of his opinions are strengthened by various evidence related to cyberbullying, making it difficult to deny. We are in line with the author in criticizing 5 and the need for positive changes to cyberbully laws in Malaysia, so that the related cases do not recur. (781 words) 6 3. REFERENCES ● Yap Wan Xiang. (2020). Malaysia Ranks 2nd In Asia For Cyberbullying Among Youth. https://says.com/my/news/malaysia-ranks-2nd-in-asia-for-cyberbullying-amongchildren ● J. Fullerton. (2019). Teenage girl kills herself 'after Instagram poll' in Malaysia. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/15/teenage-girl-kills-herself-afterinstagram-poll-in-malaysia ● J.Y. Geronimo. (2013). Aquino signs anti-bullying law. https://www.rappler.com/nation/aquino-signs-anti-bullying-law ● BBC. (2016). “Can’t hide it forever”: The model who became a meme. BBC Asia. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34568674 ● Ghazali, A. H. A., Abdullah, H., Omar, S. Z., Ahmad, A., Samah, A. A., Ramli, S. A., & Shaffril, H. A. M. (2017). Malaysian Youth Perception on Cyberbullying: The Qualitative Perspective. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(4), 87–98. https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v7-i4/2782 ● Lai, C. S., Mohamad, M. M., Lee, M. F., Salleh, K. M., Sulaiman, N. L., Rosli, D. I., & Chang, W. V. S. (2017). Prevalence of cyberbullying among students in Malaysian higher learning institutions. Advanced Science Letters, 23(2), 781–784. https://doi.org/10.1166/asl.2017.7492 ● Athira, N. (2020). Does Malaysia Have A Cyberbullying Problem? | The ASEAN Post. 2021(June). https://theaseanpost.com/article/does-malaysia-have-cyberbullying- problem ● Niña M. Ruiz, R. M. (2019). Curbing Cyberbullying Among Students: a Comparative Analysis of Existing Laws Among Selected Asean Countries. PEOPLE: International Journal of Social Sciences, https://doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2019.43.12851305 7 4(3), 1285–1305.
