(Aug 21): Putrajaya is ready to face the consequences of its proposed regulations on Internet use in the next general election if its security policies do not benefit the people, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said.

The minister of urban welbeing, housing and local government, however, said he was confident that people would support the government's efforts in streamlining policy over Internet use in the country.

"We are willing to stake our future as a political party, for the people to decide three, four years from now, whether our position taken on security issues are appreciated by the people.

"We feel the people are with us on this, they want the government to take necessary action against the spreading of false information and pitting one race against another, which was a threat to national unity.

"We are prepared to face the consequences, be it from the opposition or the people," he said at a press conference in Petaling Jaya today.

Rahman is also ruling coalition Barisan Nasional's strategic communications director.

He said national security and economic stability were the government's responsibility, and it showed leadership by taking steps to preserve them.

"Stability and security cannot be the responsibility of the opposition. It must be the government who leads.

"The government of the day should make laws that protect the peace, and it will face the people every five years in elections to know whether its policies on national safety and security are accepted by the people or not."

Putrajaya has recently stepped up calls for regulations on Internet use, with Rahman as well as newly appointed Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak making proposals for new rules on social media and online news portals.

Last night, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that Malaysia would adopt "international standards" in its Internet policies, stressing that the government would "regulate" and not "restrict".

Rahman today said "restrict" was too harsh a word and that the government still believed that the Internet and social media were important contributors to national communications.

"We will not block the Internet. We agree that the Internet and social media are important." – The Malaysian Insider