The legal rationales of enacting Malaysian space legislation

The involvement of Malaysia in outer space activities is irrefutable. It had started long ago from 1960 with the construction of her first earth satellite station in Kuantan, Pahang. Apart from building the earth satellite stations, Malaysia also has involved in various space applications and activities. These include telecommunication and broadcasting, remote sensing, meteorology, navigation, satellite manufacturing and launching, astronaut programme, suborbital space plane, commercial space ports and so forth. Such activities in fact need proper regulations. Even though some of these activities are at initial stages of involvement, however, there is a great opportunity for further engagement. Since Malaysia has no specific law deals with outer space activities, thus this paper discusses the legal rationales why it is necessary to enact the Malaysian outer space legislation. It hopes it will justify the importance of outer space legislation in the context of Malaysia as an actor and a contributor to outer space activities