Guan Eng to ask for another Pakatan council meeting over new anti-fake news law

KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said he has requested an early Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council meeting to discuss the newly-gazetted Emergency (Essential Powers) (No. 2) Ordinance 2021, which criminalises the creation and publishing of fake news.

He said the meeting will be to discuss the law’s perceived encroachment on the declining democratic space in Malaysia.

“This disturbing expansion of the catch-all definition of fake news, impinges on the constitutional right to freedom of expression as well as freedom of the press and should be debated and passed in Parliament,” Lim said in a statement.

Continuing his criticism of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for continuing to suspend Parliament, the Bagan MP said the prime minister stubbornly refuses to listen to the clear and unequivocal voice of the majority of MPs, from both the Opposition and government, that Parliament must be reconvened immediately.

“Granting such sweeping powers to the government effectively means that the government will decide what is fake news.

“Further, how will this new fake news law encourage whistleblowers to expose malpractices and wrongdoings, including matters related to Covid-19 measures and the Emergency Proclamation suspending Parliament?” he said.

Lim noted the contradiction of the new law with the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010, which is intended to combat corruption and other wrongdoings by encouraging and facilitating disclosures of improper conduct in the public and private sector, and to protect persons making those disclosures from detrimental action.

“This fake news law can also stifle fundamental freedoms, particularly silencing the democratic right to dissent. For example, if the prime minister is unhappy about purportedly false allegations against him, he can file a defamation suit, which he has done so.

“Or the prime minister can still act against malicious allegations under existing laws which would be more than sufficient punishment in terms of fines or even imprisonment such as the Penal Code or Communications and Multimedia Act,” he said.

Lim added that this overly-wide interpretation is subject to abuse as shown by the double-standards in enforcing the movement control order (MCO) restrictions or Covid-19 standard operating procedures between ministers and the ordinary rakyat.

“This new fake news law could place at risk independent and impartial online news portals, offering alternative views to the mainstream government media,” he said.

The new law, which was gazetted yesterday but comes into effect today, penalises individuals who create or publish fake news on Covid-19 or the Emergency proclamation with a RM100,000 fine, imprisonment of no more than three years, or both.