MINISTER in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said said it was hoped the draft of a new law to curb the spread of fake news will be tabled to the cabinet immediately.

She said that this was to enable more detailed discussion to be carried out including a study on the aspect of punishment and compensation payment.

“The cabinet ministers may have their own opinion ... in terms of penalties or compensation payment. All these we have to look into.

“Once we reach a consensus in the cabinet, I hope we can take the new law to the next parliamentary session,” she said at a media conference after launching the Legal Aid Trust Account in Kuala Lumpur today.

Also present was Legal Aid Department director-general Haini Hassan.

On January 30, Azalina announced that the government had set up a special committee to study a new law to curb the spread of fake news that could jeopardise political stability, threaten public peace and national security.

She was reported to have said that the new measure must be carried out so that members of the public would be more responsible in sharing unconfirmed news and ensuring national security.

Azalina said the special committee would hold a second technical meeting tomorrow to look at the way the draft of the new law was read together with existing relevant laws.

“At the technical meeting tomorrow, representatives from the relevant agencies including from the Attorney-General’s Department will look at the existing law.

A bit of the new law is present in the Penal Code, a bit in the Computer Crime Act 1997 and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998,” she said. – Bernama, February 6, 2018.