KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — Barisan Nasional and PAS senators who voted against the repeal of the Anti-Fake News Act should be mindful that many among the Opposition would fall foul of the law, said lawyer Syahredzan Johan.
Expressing disappointment at the Dewan Negara’s refusal to approve the Bill seeking to abolish the controversial law, the aide to DAP’s Lim Kit Siang stressed that the Act was both undemocratic and unconstitutional.
“Even if it is not abused, do the senators who support the Act not realise that if it is implemented, many among the Opposition — including their top leaders — would be punished for spreading fake news?” he said in a statement.
After the Senate voted down the Bill yesterday, Umno senator Khairul Azwan Harun claimed that the law should be enhanced instead of repealed.
He insisted the law was necessary in the current era and denied that Opposition senators were intentionally frustrating the government’s efforts to legislate.
Syahredzan also disclosed yesterday that the rejection could set the repeal back by a year.
