PARLIAMENT | The Dewan Negara today rejected the Anti-Fake News (Abolition) Bill 2018.

This was announced by Senate president SA Vigneswaran, after bloc voting saw 28 senators not supporting the repeal bill, while 21 supported and three abstained.

The motion for bloc voting was presented by senator Khairul Azwan Harun as soon as deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohamed Hanipa Maidin concluded the winding up of the bill for second reading.

In line with Regulation 45(4), Vigneswaran later ordered for the bell to be sounded for two minutes to enable the bloc voting process to be carried out.

The bill aimed to abolish the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 passed by the Dewan Rakyat on Aug 16 after the third reading.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Khairul Azwan denied that the opposition senators voted against the repeal of the Anti-Fake News Law to delay the progress of the new government.

Instead, he believed that it was because they believed the law could be improved upon.

"...We were the ones who allowed SST to pass.

"I understand that this is a very unpopular law, but we must also recognise that we live in world of fast information. Just this week the prime minister was a target of fake news.

"The threat is real and I fear our political landscape is too young to be further polarised because of fake news," the Umno senator said.

The fake news law, he added, should be a protection for everyone.