KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Malaysia's

communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said he has directed the

communications regulator not to re-route web traffic through

local domain name system (DNS) servers, according to a post on

social media platform X on Sunday.

He said he had taken into account feedback from engagement

sessions conducted by the communications commission and comments

from the general public.

The directive, which was supposed to take effect on Sept.

30, had sparked concerns about increasing online censorship and

potential damage to Malaysia's digital economy.

DNS is a system that translates domain names into numerical

addresses used by computers to locate websites on the internet.

While local internet service providers, or ISPs, often

operate their own DNS servers, some web users use public DNS

servers, such as those provided by Google or

Cloudflare ( NET ), to gain faster internet speeds or access

websites blocked on local ISPs.

Under the government plan, user requests from such

third-party DNS servers will be redirected to those operated by

Malaysian ISPs.

In a statement late on Saturday, the Malaysian

Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) denied the

measure was "draconian", saying it was aimed at protecting

vulnerable groups from malicious or harmful content, such as

online gambling, pornography, copyright infringements, phishing

or financial scams.

"DNS redirection ensures that harmful websites are blocked

while legitimate websites remain reachable without noticeable

disruption," MCMC said, adding that it had blocked 24,277

websites between 2018 and Aug. 1, 2024 to protect users' safety.

Users facing trouble accessing sites could file a complaint

to ISPs, while blocked websites can appeal to regulators, it

said.

In his post on X, the minister said online crime was of

great concern and pledged to continue engaging stakeholders "to

obtain views, suggestions and recommendations to ensure that the

objective of a safer internet can be achieved together".

State assemblyman Syed Ahmad Syed Abdul Rahman Alhadad, a

member of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's People's Justice Party,

had called the plan "draconian", saying it could negatively

affect Malaysia's digital economy - which has been boosted this

year by large investments from major tech firms such as

Microsoft ( MSFT ), Amazon ( AMZN ), Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Google.

Lim Yi Wei, an assemblywoman from the Democratic Action

Party, part of Anwar's ruling coalition, said the plan amounted

to censorship and posed cybersecurity risks such as DNS

poisoning, where web traffic could be redirected by hackers.

The move comes amid heightened scrutiny of online content

under Anwar, who ran on a progressive platform before being

voted into power in 2022.

An Asian industry group that includes major tech firms such

as Meta, Google and X last month urged Malaysia to

pause a plan to license social media platforms, citing a lack of

clarity over the proposed regulations.