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KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Parliament on Wednesday (Oct 9) voted to repeal the Anti-Fake News Act (AFNA), the second time the Lower House had done so in just 14 months.
The Lower House, which is controlled by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, had attempted to repeal the controversial AFNA – which makes “fake news” a crime – last year.
But Malaysia’s Upper House, or the Senate, which is controlled by the opposition Barisan Nasional coalition, had blocked the Bill.
PH had to wait a cooling-off period of a year before it could table the Bill to scrap AFNA again.
On Wednesday evening, the Lower House voted again in favour of repealing the Act.
This time, it has the guarantee of abolishing it within the year, as the Senate cannot block what has been approved by MPs for the second time.
The Bill will go through the Senate again but can thereafter be automatically passed to the Malaysian King for assent even if it gets blocked by the Senate again, while the King isn’t expected to block it.
weehingthong 