PETALING JAYA: Senior lawyers have called for a committee to be set up to conduct a study into the Anti-Fake News Bill 2018 and urged the Government not to pass the Bill in haste. Passing a law with draconian provisions could seriously affect Malaysia’s cherished freedoms and democracy, said Datuk Roger Tan. He said Malaysia should have followed Singapore’s example by setting up a parliamentary committee to study the proposed law first. “A law is only good if it has safeguards against it being abused,” Tan said in a WhatsApp interview from abroad. “While this issue should not be ignored, the proposed broad-based law to criminalise the dissemination of news amounts to legislative overkill.

Source: The Star March 27, 2018 23:03 UTC