PARLIAMENT repealed the Anti-Fake News Act for the second time in a year after observing the one-year cooling off period.

However, the procedure did not go smoothly for the government as a poorly placed remark by the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law) Hanipa Maidin almost forced an opposition walkout, and caused the opposition to call for division voting.

At the close, Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof had to call for division voting for the policy and committee stages (Second Reading) as both sides of the aisles traded barbs during the process.

At 5.08pm, Ariff announced that there were 93 who agreed and 53 who disagreed for the Anti-Fake News (Abolition) Act at the policy stage.

This was followed by 92 who agreed and 51 who disagreed at the committee stage at 5.26pm.

Earlier, during his winding-up, Hanipa took a jibe at Azalina Othman Said (Pengerang-BN) questioning her “sexuality”, following her jibe at his “size”.

Although, Hanipa apologised and retracted the remark, it nevertheless gave cause for the opposition to ask him to wrap up his speech and go for the voting stage.

The Anti-Fake News (Abolition) Act bill will now be sent to Dewan Negara.

In one of its last legislative acts to curtail the then opposition before the last general election in May, Barisan Nasional bulldozed the Anti-Fake News Act through on April 12, 2018.

Conversely, shortly after Pakatan Harapan took over in May 2018, one of its first acts was to abolish the controversial anti-freedom of expression law.

With numbers on its side, the government approved the repeal on August 16, 2018, with a simple voice vote.

Yet, the repeal was short lived as it was subsequently rejected by the opposition-dominated Dewan Negara a month later.

On September 12, 2018, 28 senators voted against the repeal compared to 21 who supported it. Three others chose not to vote.

Article 68 of the federal constitution allows the government to table a bill rejected by the upper house after a one-year cooling period.

Once the unchanged bill is passed a second time by Parliament, it will then be tabled in Dewan Negara again.

However, unlike the first time, the bill will be presented to the King for assent, regardless of the vote in the upper house. – October 9, 2019.