Malaysian parliament approves controversial ‘fake news’ law

Commuters sit in front of an advertisement discouraging the dissemination of fake news, at a train station in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 28, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

Malaysia’s parliament has approved a law against “fake news” that will punish anyone publishing information deemed false or untrue despite an outcry from the opposition and activists who believe it is a ploy to muzzle dissent.

The lower house of Malaysia’s parliament passed the law after a debate spanning last week on Thursday afternoon and much of Monday.

The law will target foreign as well as local media and covers any information that is deemed to be “wholly or partly fake.”

An initial government proposal for sentences up to 10 years in jail for those disseminating false information was lowered to six years accompanied with a fine of 500,000 ringgit ($130,000).

Publishing false reports on blogs, sharing such information on social media and giving a speech containing information known to be untrue would be a punishable offense under the new law.

The opposition has fiercely criticized the law, saying it imposes heavy penalties and has the potential to limit free speech.

“This bill ... is a weapon to close the truth so that what is false can be upheld as true, and what is true can be reversed as false,” Lim Guan Eng of the Democratic Action Party said after the ratification of the bill, adding, “This is something very dangerous for our country.”

Activists and rights campaigners have also criticized the bill, saying it could serve as a tool in the hands of the government to crack down on dissenting voices.

Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said before the law was passed that it would be a “blatant attempt by the government to prevent any and all news that it doesn't like, whether about corruption or elections,” adding that it “uses draconian penalties and broad language in an audacious and unprecedented effort to control discussion of Malaysia worldwide."

Commuters walk past an advertisement discouraging the dissemination of fake news at a train station in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 28, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

Opponents also believe that the law is mostly aimed at silencing criticism of a scandal surrounding the administration of Prime Minister Najib Razak over misappropriated money from sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Razak seeks to renew his mandate in the upcoming elections for a third consecutive term. He leads the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which dominates both parliament and the Senate where the new law should be passed before it is sent to the King for his royal assent.

Government members have denied the fake news law could affect freedom of expression, saying it only seeks to safeguard the public from false information. Law Minister Azalina Othman Said said the law was only meant “to restrict the dissemination of fake news.”