Putrajaya to table repeal of Anti-Fake News Act on Oct 8

Pakatan Harapan is set to table a bill to repeal the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 in the Dewan Rakyat on Oct 8, according to a source from the Prime Minister’s Department.

This will be the government’s second attempt to get rid of the controversial law after the Dewan Negara blocked it last September.

“The tabling to repeal the Anti-Fake News Act again is on Oct 8... but ultimately it is up to (Dewan Rakyat secretary) Roosme Hamzah,” the source told Malaysiakini.

The move is in line with what de facto Law Minister Liew Vui Keong previously said about the matter. According to Liew, the repeal bill will "sail through" the Dewan Negara once the MPs pass it this time.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad confirmed that the government’s disagreeable stance on the Anti-Fake News Act remained.

“...the government feels that we should do away with the act,” he said when asked by the media in Petaling Jaya this morning.

The law was tabled by the previous BN government and passed in April 2018, one month shy of GE14.

Critics claimed it was rushed through Parliament to silence government critics and the media and endanger freedom of expression.

Need to curb misinformation

Speaking to the media after his keynote address at Lawasia’s Constitutional and Rule of Law Conference, Mahathir floated the idea of "retaining" or "amending" the Anti-Fake News Act instead of getting rid of it altogether.

He added that such laws were not necessarily bad but it was the “abuse” of them that produced unfavourable outcomes.

Later, during the question-and-answer session, the PM opined that the government needed to address online misinformation without restricting free speech or clamping down on genuine news.

“If you use that (social media) for good, (use it) for letting the government know what is good. I think that is very good.

“But how do you sift through the bad news and the good news? That is a problem we are faced (with) today.

“Frankly, I think that we need to curb somewhat fake news, but we have to do that without also curbing true news,” Mahathir said. - Mkini