Malaysia repeals 'fake news law'

Malaysia has repealed its ‘fake news’ law, the first country in the world to roll back such legislation. According to a report in The Guardian, the law was introduced in March by the previous Prime Minister Najib Razak, and was widely condemned at the time as an assault on free speech and a tool to muzzle critics from discussing scandals such as 1MDB. Najib is now facing up to 125 years in jail if found guilty of corruption. Najib’s government set out fines of up to $122 000 and jail time of up to six years for anything the government defined as ‘fake news’. Scrapping the law became a key election promise for the opposition, led by Mahathir Mohamad (93), who took power after a surprise election victory in May. Mahathir himself was investigated under the fake news law just before the election after he claimed people working for Najib’s administration were responsible for ‘sabotaging’ his plane, almost preventing him from registering as an election candidate. At a parliamentary vote, the opposition alliance voted to repeal the law after a three-hour debate. Minister Mohamed Hanipa Maidin said the police would instead be given new powers to deal with the spread of the ‘phenomenon’ of fake news. ‘This is a law that was clearly designed to silence criticism of the authorities and to quell public debate – it should never have been allowed to pass in the first place,’ said Teddy Brawner Baguilat, a board member of Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights.