Month: June 2024

LUMUT, The Maharaja Lela-class littoral combat ship (LCS) 1 is expected to be handed over to the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) in August 2026, said Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

The construction of the country’s first LCS has met the planned milestone, he said.

He said the ship was successfully launched into the water on May 23 after receiving approval from the design team, quality control authorities, and the end user, which is the RMN, to test its stability and strength.

“Now, it’s about installing equipment, tools on the ship. Some have already been installed, some are yet to be installed.

“After that, in December, harbour trials will be conducted, and after all equipment is installed, sea trials will be conducted. According to the plan, the first ship will be handed over to the RMN in August 2026,” he told a press conference after inspecting the construction progress of the ship at Lumut Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (LUNAS) here today.

Mohamed Khaled added that the construction of the re
maining four LCS was also progressing well in accordance with the established plans.

Earlier, in a separate event, he handed over contributions to the families of the victims of the helicopter tragedy on April 23.

Meanwhile, in another separate event, Mohamed Khaled also mingled with the Lumut Naval Base personnel and presented a mock cheque for RM38.04 million to its commander First Admiral Jamaludin Sairi, for this year’s maintenance of the Armed Forces Family Housing (RKAT) and the Lumut Naval Base Accommodation Block.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, The formulation of a law to regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and curb the misuse of the technology for criminal purposes needs to be expedited.

Derek John Fernandez of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said the misuse of AI could pose a threat to public and national well-being.

‘The misuse of AI, especially involving deepfakes for spreading lies, can threaten the peace and security of the country.

‘Hence, the government needs to think about having a regulation that requires all platforms that provide AI services to submit a notification that an image or video displayed is generated by AI,’ he said when met by Bernama after the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Joint Policy Dialogue on Industry Regulation and Enforcement in Managing Cybercrime, recently.

According to Fernandez, that way the people will know if the image or video they see is genuine or otherwise, and can avoid more individuals becoming victims of online fraud, which h
as become quite rampant.

Fernandez also stressed that those who provide AI services must take responsibility and devote sufficient resources to ensure that users who access the service use it responsibly.

‘All platforms offering and hosting AI services must comply with local laws in the digital space of the country they operate in,’ he said, adding that the government must also ensure that the interests and safety of users are prioritised.

He said Malaysia should not procrastinate in drafting laws related to AI technology as neighbouring countries such as Singapore already have such laws while Thailand and Indonesia are in the final phase of drafting similar ones.

‘ASEAN digital sovereignty is important in the effort to deal with the misuse of AI by irresponsible parties, national laws for each country and collaboration between all ASEAN member countries for cyber security are necessary to ensure that the effort is more effective,’ he said.

Elaborating, Fernandez said there are three components of AI tha
t need to be paid attention to, namely learning, intelligence and awareness; and that appropriate laws must be enacted to enable the country to be better prepared to face the technology boom.

He said the learning component involves AI helping humans in making decisions based on the input they are given; the intelligence component is when AI has the ability to think on par with or better than humans; and the awareness component is when it has an awareness of itself and its surroundings.

‘The intelligence and awareness components may not be there for now but it is better for us to be prepared to face it with a comprehensive law,’ he explained.

On the dialogue, Fernandez said it was a good platform for authorities and technology companies to exchange views in finding appropriate methods to prevent technology from being misused for criminal purposes.

He said various authorities from Indonesia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam attended the dialogue, including representatives from technology companies such as Microso
ft.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PUTRAJAYA, The government will introduce special licence plate frames for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) or electric vehicles to distinguish them from internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), Transport Minister Anthony Loke said.

Loke said ZEV manufacturers will issue and install the special plate frames before delivering the vehicles to buyers.

‘We will introduce special plates, not registration numbers, to differentiate ZEVs from ICE vehicles.

“The ZEV manufacturers will issue these frames and we will collaborate on the materials and other details. More information will be provided later,” he told a press conference to announce the new Motor Vehicle Licence (LKM) fee rates for electric vehicles today.

On July 1 last year, Loke announced that the Transport Ministry plans to introduce special registration numbers for electric vehicles to distinguish them from ICE vehicles and facilitate rescue operations by the Fire and Rescue Department in case of accidents.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Northport (Malaysia) Bhd marked a new record after handling the highest monthly container throughput of 335,361 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in May 2024, an improvement of 26.6 per cent against May last year.

In a statement today, the port operator said the achievement surpassed the previous record of 310,865 TEUs set in December 2020.

For the first five months of this year, Northport handled a total of 1,390,916 TEUs of containers, marking an increase of 11.1 per cent against the same period last year.

Northport said the Red Sea geopolitical crisis has had severe impact on international trade, resulting in several vessel diversions from major regional ports.

‘Since January this year, Northport has received more than 80 ad-hoc calls primarily due to this global crisis,’ said Northport, a member of MMC Group.

Chief executive officer Datuk Azman Shah Mohd Yusof said coupled with higher container volume driven from its aggressive marketing efforts and the higher productivity resulting
from improved infrastructure, the company has achieved a record-breaking performance last month.

‘This achievement is a reflection of our capability to provide efficient service, maintain consistently high productivity and ensure berth on arrival for the growing number of vessel calls,’ he said.

Apart from the higher number of vessel calls, Azman Shah said the record-breaking container throughput registered in May was also driven by the introduction of two new vessel services and the improved volume from existing services at Northport during the month.

The achievement was further bolstered by the completion of the new state-of-the-art container yard infrastructure, Block J, in 2023, which played a crucial role in ensuring the efficient performance of Northport’s terminal operations, he said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KOTA BHARU, The Kelantan government is drafting the new Syariah Court Administration Bill (RUU) which will replace the Administration of the Syariah Court Enactment (Kelantan State) 1982.

State Islamic Development, Dakwah, Information and Regional Relations Committee chairman Mohd Asri Mat Daud said the draft amendment had also been presented at the Kelantan Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIK) meeting.

He said the meeting also decided to establish a working committee especially to review the formulation of the draft proposals.

“The proposed bill is also more comprehensive. Therefore, the drafting of the bill is still at the stage of detailed study by the legal division of the Kelantan State Secretary’s Office,” he said.

Mohd Asri said this in response to a question from Zameri Mat Nawang (PAS-Jelawat) during the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly sitting at Kompleks Kota Darulnaim today,

Elaborating further, Mohd Asri said this opens up space and guarantees the implementation of justice
in syariah cases through the judicial institution of the Syariah Court comparable to the judicial institution of the Civil Court.

“The survey in question relates to the need for four or five levels of court taking into account the implementation in other states from the aspects of policy or future planning by the federal government for the process of standardisation and empowerment of Syariah Courts in Malaysia.

“The increase is to ensure that the opportunity of appeals of syariah cases is two-fold that is an appeal to the Syariah Appeal Court and then to the Syariah Main Court as the highest court after the Syariah Appeal Court,” he said.

Meanwhile, in reply to a question from Dr Hafidzah Mustakim (Amanah-Kota Lama) regarding coordination with the syariah judicial committee at the federal level, Mohd Asri said the state government is always in contact and cooperates with the government in this matter.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency