Internet Society’s Contribution to Malaysia Regulator’s Public Consultation 

The Internet Society has submitted comments to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in response to its public consultation on proposed amendments to the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Among the changes under consideration is a new statutory authority that could pave the way for a national Internet registry (NIR) to manage IP addresses and autonomous system (AS) numbers in Malaysia. It also proposed establishing a legal basis for MCMC to impose and administer fees related to these resources.

In our submission, we set out why the regional Internet registry (RIR) model, coordinated regionally in the Asia-Pacific region through the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) and grounded in the Internet’s multistakeholder governance model, continues to serve Malaysian network operators, businesses, and institutions well. We explained why establishing a new national registry could introduce unnecessary costs and add technical and operational risks without clear benefits.

The United Nations General Assembly reaffirmed the multistakeholder model in 2025 at the conclusion of its 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20). How this consultation is resolved will say something about whether this shared model continues to hold. Internet Society regional policy experts will continue to track input and amendments over the coming months.