A new law now being considered proposes to turn computing into a closed shop, where only those registered with the federal government can work, and it would be illegal for others to offer any kind of computing services.

A draft of the Bill, now being circulated in the industry, is provoking unrest among computer techies.

Potentially, it could turn into an outlaw any boy genius who learned computer programming on his own and does freelance work while studying — or a journalist who learned PHP programming and offers to create and design web sites.

The draft Computing Professionals Bill proposes to create two classes of people with computer skills:

* A lower class of “Registered Computing Practitioner” — people without degrees in computing; and
* An upper class of “Registered Computing Professional” — graduates in computing

Companies would be registered as computing services providers.

Only “registered computing professionals” — computing graduates — would be allowed to offer services or work in areas defined by the government’s Critical National Information Infrastructure guidelines.

Furthermore, they must declare their areas of specialisation, and can only work within these areas — another bureaucratic and regulatory obstacle for computing people as new specialisations crop up or programming projects get “forked” into new branches.

The unrest among computer techies is reflected in a blog article by writer Erna Mahyuni » Killing techies the Malaysian way in which she said:
“In other words, if I don’t register, it is technically illegal for me to even email ANY MALAYSIAN with even an IDEA for a tech-related project. It would be against the law for me to even sketch, on a napkin, my idea for a new app while having coffee with someone.
Want to know the hilarious part? The country with a bill nearly identical to ours is…Nigeria. So we’re taking a leaf out of their book? Brilliant, Malaysia, totally brilliant.

Dinesh Nair, computer security expert, said on Twitter:

Dinesh Nair @alphaque

When you outlaw computing professionals, only outlaws will be computing professionals.
8 Dec 11

Dinesh Nair @alphaque

I just typed "#include <studio.h> main {printf("hello, world\n")}". I may have committed a crime if the #CPB2011 passes.
8 Dec 11

» A Facebook page “Malaysians Against Board of Computing Professionals Bill” has already gathered 230 “likes”. Reached 500 Likes now

The Bill would create a new layer of government bureaucracy with a Board of Computing Professionals to maintain a register and certify all those who wish to work in computing or offer computing services.

The new law would apply to computing work done within the ambit of the Critical National Information Infrastructure: this is a government policy guideline that states which areas are considered critical to national life. National defence and security is one area — and so is national image, which clearly ropes in media, advertising and PR.

The main sectors are: defence and security; banking and finance; information and communications; energy; transport; water; health services; government; emergency services; and food and agriculture

All companies and institutions in these areas would be considered as security areas, in terms of the CNII, whereby attacks on these companies’ computing systems would be considered to endanger national life — something becoming more real each day with reports of cyberwarfare attacks on defence, banking and health systems abroad.

Specific details of companies covered by this policy are not immediately available. However, for people in media, it’s worth remembering that New Straits Times Press and Utusan Melayu group, Angkasapuri, and Bernama are already considered to be security areas in times of crisis.

By Shannon Teoh

PUTRAJAYA, Dec 13 — The Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (MOSTI) said today it would discard the controversial Computing Professionals Bill if the industry can find a better way to boost the local industry towards meeting world-class standards.

Deputy Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof told reporters after the ministry’s open day on the Bill that it is up to the IT sector to find ways to “uplift the IT profession.”

“There is no decision on whether it (the Bill) is going to be done or not. We can use any other mechanism.

“That is why we have this open day. It is up to the profession to decide how to protect themselves,” the Petra Jaya MP said.

IT professionals voiced concern over the Bill when a draft surfaced online last week, saying registration under the Board of Computing Professionals will hurt the billion-ringgit industry by shrinking the pool of eligible professionals.

But the ministry’s ICT policy division, which is facilitating the process of formulating the Bill, told The Malaysian Insider today it would have “no problems” if the industry were to offer a better alternative.

Under Secretary Amirudin Abdul Wahab said the move was to reverse Malaysia’s sliding standards in computing as reflected by its drop from 50th place to 56th place in the International Telecommunication Union ICT Development Index between 2002 and 2008.

Datuk Halimah Badioze Zaman, who is part of the working committee drafting the Bill, also said the Bill is not yet finalised, having gone through 17 revisions so far.

“This is the fastest vehicle for us to get there (to international standards). If not, what would be another vehicle to bring us forward?” the National Professors Council member said at the open day.

The Bill was earlier criticised for being unnecessary by about 50 IT practitioners who attended the open day, with several accusing the government of “creating a crony club” for favoured companies.

The current draft of the Bill seeks to establish a board that will certify individuals and firms who qualify to bid for the government’s Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) projects as computing professionals and computing service providers respectively.

The panel of MOSTI advisers said today they were still working on a clear definition of the CNII with the definition used by the government’s cyber security agency being one of the templates.

Cyber Security Malaysia defines CNII as systems and functions that are vital to the nation that their incapacity or destruction would have a devastating impact on national economic strength, image, defence, public health and safety and the government’s ability to function.