“Don’t use this law to cover up the truth,” the Pakatan Harapan chairman said in a Facebook post today.
Several seconds later, PPBM’s president Muhyiddin Yassin also appeared in the same video, expressing concern that the law might be used against the opposition.
Muhyiddin claimed the BN government had failed to explain several issues and controversies in the past.
“If BN wants to label the news that comes from the opposition as fake news, it will be irresponsible of them (to do that).”
He said if the government wanted to proceed with the law, it must be based on facts.
Prime Minister Najib Razak had said on Jan 28 that the Putrajaya was looking into introducing laws to curb fake news that threatened political stability.
He said this was necessary as fake news could influence the people into hating the government.
Earlier today, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said said the draft of the proposed law would be sent to the cabinet for opinions before being sent to Parliament.
She said the special committee studying the draft law would hold a second technical meeting tomorrow.
It will compare the law with existing legislation.
“A bit of the new law is present in the Penal Code, a bit in the Computer Crime Act 1997 and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998,” she said.
She defended the need for the new law, saying it would make members of the public more responsible when it comes to churning out, spreading or sharing unconfirmed news.
This way, national security could continue to be preserved, she added.
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