Malaysia’s Anti-Fake News Act: A cog in an arsenal of anti-free speech laws and a bold promise of reforms

Malaysia’s surprising fourteenth general election result in May 2018 was widely hailed as the advent of a seismic shift for press freedom in the country. The country’s draconian media control armoury was often wantonly and oppressively applied over six decades under previous rule. Key actors from t...

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Autor principal:	Joseph M Fernandez
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Asia Pacific Network 2019
Materias:	Anti-Fake News Act censorship fake news free speech freedom of expression law reform Communication. Mass media P87-96 Journalism. The periodical press, etc. PN4699-5650
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/73ebfc474262440eae3a46efb7e06acf
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:73ebfc474262440eae3a46efb7e06acf2021-12-02T08:16:26ZMalaysia’s Anti-Fake News Act: A cog in an arsenal of anti-free speech laws and a bold promise of reforms10.24135/pjr.v25i1.4741023-94992324-2035https://doaj.org/article/73ebfc474262440eae3a46efb7e06acf2019-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://ojs.aut.ac.nz/pacific-journalism-review/article/view/474https://doaj.org/toc/1023-9499https://doaj.org/toc/2324-2035 Malaysia’s surprising fourteenth general election result in May 2018 was widely hailed as the advent of a seismic shift for press freedom in the country. The country’s draconian media control armoury was often wantonly and oppressively applied over six decades under previous rule. Key actors from that era are now presiding over bold reforms that have been promised by the new government. In keeping with its election promises, the new government sought to repeal the hastily and badly drafted Anti-Fake News Act 2018 (AFNA). The Attorney-General Tommy Thomas wrote scathingly before the Act was passed and before taking office as the new A-G: The draconian effect of the entire bill renders it unconstitutional…This is a disgraceful piece of legislation drafted by a desperate government determined to crush dissent and silence critics. The bill is so hastily and poorly drafted that it cannot under any circumstances be improved by amendment. Instead, it must be rejected outright. (Thomas, 2018) The repeal effort, however, failed and the Act remains technically on the books. This article examines the Act against a backdrop of global responses to the ‘fake news’ phenomenon; provides an overview of Malaysia’s draconian armoury of laws that impinge on freedom of expression; discusses the fading optimism for proper media regulation reform in Malaysia; and concludes that meaningful media regulation reform must go beyond repealing AFNA. Joseph M FernandezAsia Pacific NetworkarticleAnti-Fake News Actcensorshipfake newsfree speechfreedom of expressionlaw reformCommunication. Mass mediaP87-96Journalism. The periodical press, etc.PN4699-5650ENPacific Journalism Review, Vol 25, Iss 1&2 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Anti-Fake News Act censorship fake news free speech freedom of expression law reform Communication. Mass media P87-96 Journalism. The periodical press, etc. PN4699-5650
spellingShingle	Anti-Fake News Act censorship fake news free speech freedom of expression law reform Communication. Mass media P87-96 Journalism. The periodical press, etc. PN4699-5650 Joseph M Fernandez Malaysia’s Anti-Fake News Act: A cog in an arsenal of anti-free speech laws and a bold promise of reforms
description	Malaysia’s surprising fourteenth general election result in May 2018 was widely hailed as the advent of a seismic shift for press freedom in the country. The country’s draconian media control armoury was often wantonly and oppressively applied over six decades under previous rule. Key actors from that era are now presiding over bold reforms that have been promised by the new government. In keeping with its election promises, the new government sought to repeal the hastily and badly drafted Anti-Fake News Act 2018 (AFNA). The Attorney-General Tommy Thomas wrote scathingly before the Act was passed and before taking office as the new A-G: The draconian effect of the entire bill renders it unconstitutional…This is a disgraceful piece of legislation drafted by a desperate government determined to crush dissent and silence critics. The bill is so hastily and poorly drafted that it cannot under any circumstances be improved by amendment. Instead, it must be rejected outright. (Thomas, 2018) The repeal effort, however, failed and the Act remains technically on the books. This article examines the Act against a backdrop of global responses to the ‘fake news’ phenomenon; provides an overview of Malaysia’s draconian armoury of laws that impinge on freedom of expression; discusses the fading optimism for proper media regulation reform in Malaysia; and concludes that meaningful media regulation reform must go beyond repealing AFNA.
format	article
author	Joseph M Fernandez
author_facet	Joseph M Fernandez
author_sort	Joseph M Fernandez
title	Malaysia’s Anti-Fake News Act: A cog in an arsenal of anti-free speech laws and a bold promise of reforms
title_short	Malaysia’s Anti-Fake News Act: A cog in an arsenal of anti-free speech laws and a bold promise of reforms
title_full	Malaysia’s Anti-Fake News Act: A cog in an arsenal of anti-free speech laws and a bold promise of reforms
title_fullStr	Malaysia’s Anti-Fake News Act: A cog in an arsenal of anti-free speech laws and a bold promise of reforms
title_full_unstemmed	Malaysia’s Anti-Fake News Act: A cog in an arsenal of anti-free speech laws and a bold promise of reforms
title_sort	malaysia’s anti-fake news act: a cog in an arsenal of anti-free speech laws and a bold promise of reforms
publisher	Asia Pacific Network
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/73ebfc474262440eae3a46efb7e06acf
work_keys_str_mv	AT josephmfernandez malaysiasantifakenewsactacoginanarsenalofantifreespeechlawsandaboldpromiseofreforms
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Malaysia’s Anti-Fake News Act: A cog in an arsenal of anti-free speech laws and a bold promise of reforms

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