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THE MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT Monday proposed a “fake news” law which would carry a maximum 10-year jail term, including for articles published abroad, sparking fears of a crackdown on dissent as elections loom.
Governments in several countries, emboldened by US President Donald Trump’s fulminations against “fake news”, are considering such legislation. But rights groups warn that authoritarian regimes are likely to use such laws to silence opposing voices.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has already been targeting critics in politics and the media who have attacked him over allegations that huge sums were looted from sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. Najib and the fund deny any wrongdoing.
The proposed law, introduced in parliament today, fuelled fears the government is seeking to intensify a clampdown before a general election, which must be called by August but is widely expected sooner.
Opposition MP Charles Santiago said the bill was “a powerful weapon for the government to silence dissent in the country”.
“It is timed for the elections and to silence discussions on 1MDB,” he told AFP.
Targeting foreign media
The bill, which described fake news as a “global concern”, includes a maximum 10 years in jail or fine of up to 500,000 ringgit (€103,000) for anyone guilty of creating or disseminating what authorities deem to be fake news.
It said anyone — including foreigners — who breaks the law outside the country by publishing fake news can face punishment in Malaysia, as long as what is published concerns Malaysia or a Malaysian citizen.
Fahmi Fadzil, spokesman for the opposition People’s Justice Party, said it suggested the government was seeking to target foreign media, which have led the coverage of 1MDB.
Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director for Human Rights Watch, accused the Malaysian government of employing “Trump-style scare tactics to grant itself powers to arbitrarily determine what people can say about Malaysia in the world”.
Amnesty International said the bill was “nothing but a blatant attempt to shield the government from peaceful criticism”.
It was no coincidence that it had been tabled with general elections just around the corner, said Amnesty’s regional director James Gomez in a statement.
Taking aim at fake news
Malaysia’s traditional pro-government media have reported on the 1MDB controversy only occasionally and in a muted and largely uncritical fashion.
Despite the concerns, cabinet minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar insisted the law “will not be abused”, adding: “It is not aimed at silencing critics.”
The bill must be approved by a majority in the 222-seat lower house and also in the upper house, and this is likely as both chambers are controlled by the ruling coalition. It needs to go through several readings in parliament before it passes.
Malaysia is ranked 144th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index.
The government has the power to revoke newspapers’ printing permits and regularly attacks critical media, particularly online news sites that have gained a following by reporting on official malfeasance and corruption.
Other countries in Southeast Asia have also been taking aim at what they claim is fake news.
Philippine lawmakers are mulling an anti-fake news bill introduced last year by a supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte, who has done battle with media outlets critical of his deadly drug war.
The proposed legislation reserves its harshest penalties, up to $382,500 and imprisonment of up to 20 years, for mass media organisations that refuse to take down fake news items.
In tightly-controlled Singapore, a parliamentary committee has been holding hearings this month as it examines potential measures to combat false online information, including legislation.
- © AFP 2018.
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Our own government would be doing a long stretch.
@Shayno O’Donnchadha: As would everyone in INM…..
Meanwhile in the EU the Group Editor in Chief of Independent News and Media has been appointed to a European Commission group which aims to tackle ‘fake news’…. Fake news is a problem but I’ve a horrible feeling governments will use it as an excuse to settle old scores and shape the news for their own ends… https://www.rte.ie/amp/933027/
@Vigo the Carpathian: Ming has a good video up on the subject of our main fake news outlet getting that job of gatekeeper. He has an ex-INM journalist in tow to get the point across whist demanding answers. It seems the EU are not impressed.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: It’s just mind boggling…With that papers connection to “redacted” and obvious government bias. I actually thought I’d misread Mings post when I saw it..I thought he was hitting “the whacky” or something until I checked it out…
@Vigo the Carpathian: That’s the very reason why such legislation is so dangerous. When such laws are passed we then depend on whether our politicians are moral enough not to encroach on the use of even more widespread censorship. There lies the death of the free press.
@Vigo the Carpathian: I wonder what Gemma O’Doherty thinks about that…..
Orwellian, who decides what’s fake news.
@Jointheclubtoo: Our establishment betters of course. They have nothing but our best interests in mind you see.
@Jointheclubtoo: In Ireland, if it doesn’t line up with the FFG establishment agenda….it’s fake news.
Startling move. Who decides the definition of fake news? Freedom of the press means the press can print and criticize freely. Yes, Fake News is not ideal but we should not ban people from saying or writing whatever they wish. It’s up to the people to sieve through factual information and then form an opinion rather than jump to authoritarian measures.
Fake news…!
Don’t forget to include a public flogging with the jail term
That’s going a bit far, but I’ll grant that bypassing the old vegetable-throwing penalty makes a better scary headline: “Stock in stocks drops!”
It says in The Koran that Mohammed split the moon in two and put it back together… surely that constitutes fake news?
@Fifty Shades of Sé: … and the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead pft
Delicious irony here…it is the “liberal” MSM who first decided that anti-Western Establishment information on the internet (especially on social media sites) was “fake news”.
Then Trump applied the term back to the same MSM – and now Governments across the globe using the “liberal” demands to suppress “fake news” – in order to suppress “liberal” (aka western neoliberal imperialism) opinion!
Karma
Haven’t Germany said they’ll fine Facebook 50 million quid if they don’t take down “fake news”? The situation in Malaysia is probably the logical conclusion of where the west is heading.
We should implement this, enforce it on those who make make lies about my party. Would teach them a lesson.
Rightly so.
@Dave C: Wrong on every level!
With so much of the media in the hands of wealthy billionaires, it’s hard to work out what is real news from what is the stuff they are trying to feed the masses. Add to that state sponsored news, large minority groups in so many countries with an emotional rather than a fact based bias, and it’s hard to see a way for truth to survive.
@David Knight: Truth is independent of all that. This reads as if the governments there have been in the habit of expecting instant trust and credibility. Naturally people who read lies are more inclined to question everything and reserve their opinion. I doubt that the way to earn popular respect is to fine people for coming out with rubbish for the novelty value.
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