KUALA LUMPUR: DAP national chairman Karpal Singh said today he may propose privacy legislation through a Private Member's Bill during the next session of the Dewan Rakyat in 2010.

Karpal, who is the member of parliament for Bukit Gelugor, told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur High Court that specific laws were necessary given the steady rise in cases involving invasion of privacy.

The veteran politican and lawyer was asked to comment on Judicial Commissioner Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal's suggestion that Malaysia enact specific privacy laws.

In delivering his judgment in Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's defamation suit against the New Straits Times (M) Press Bhd, Harmindar said the thresholds for defamation did provide "some incidental protection against unwarranted privacy invasions".

"In any case... [protection] ought to be provided by a specific legislation on privacy rather than a reliance on defamation law. Until that happens, there is probably just sufficient justification to retain it (defamation laws)," Harminder said.

Earlier, the judicial commissioner outlined the formula accepted by Malaysian courts in determining what was defamatory.

Harmindar said these included considerations on whether the words in question would expose a person to ill-feelings, lower a person in the estimation of right-thinking members of society or cause a person to be shunned.

While Malaysia looks set to enact a Personal Data Protection Act, it is still lacking in specific legislation to safeguard a person's right to privacy.

The Personal Data Protection Bill 2009, which was tabled for first reading in the Dewan Rakyat on Nov 19, largely regulates data collection, storage and processing in commercial transactions.

Privacy protection is available in limited circumstances via specific provisions in several laws, including the Penal Code, and Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Calls for a Privacy Act has been mounting in the face of a spate of reported cases of privacy invasion stemming from the increasing availability of image-capturing mobile phones and gadgets, among other factors.

Proponents of privacy legislation often point to the high-profile cases involving Selangor state executive council member Elizabeth Wong and former health minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek to strengthen arguments for the need to protect a person's right to privacy.

Privacy debates intensified in February this year after secretly-taken photographs of Wong sleeping in her home were circulated in what is said to be a bid to discredit the Bukit Lanjan assemblyman.

Meanwhile, Chua had resigned as health minister after DVDs of a secretly-taped video of his sexual tryst were circulated in Johor in January 2008.