KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia yesterday called for a global consensus to regulate offensive contents in the Internet and to protect the public from their adverse effects.

Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Leo Moggie said no single country in the world could come up with its own effort to tackle the problem which could damage the culture of many countries particularly developing ones like Malaysia.

However, he cautioned that it was still a long way to go and as such, the issue should be raised as often as possible in international fora.

"It is difficult, unless a common understanding among countries worldwide is reached on the need to restrain unwanted contents in the Internet," he told reporters here.

Moggie said the Government had a duty to protect the public from adverse contents on the Internet.

In the context of the Multimedia Super Corridor where the Government has guaranteed free flow of information, he said there would be no censorship on information posted on the Internet and it would be accessible to everyone.

"But the focus must be at the point of content creation and not at the point of access. There must be some responsibility when people put things through the Internet," he said.

In his speech, Moggie called on developing countries to work together to establish a common news network to promote fair and accurate news reporting.--Bernama