COMMENT | Here is an example of the fabrication and dissemination of fake news and how the Umno hegemon deals with it. Eight years ago, journalists from the Al-Islam magazine went undercover in the Catholic Church, took Holy Communion and then spat out the communion wafers, the photos of which they published in their magazine. Why did they do this? Because they heard “reports” that the church was converting Muslims.

How did the Umno state deal with these purveyors of fake news? They did not do anything. Charges were dropped and the magazine apologised for any distress caused. “The journalists said they had found no evidence of the illegal conversion of Muslims.” And what of the press? How does the Umno hegemon handle fake news when it comes from the press? Well, this what a self-defined Umno’s mouthpiece said of the role of the media six years ago in a forum - “In our style of writing, we have facts, spin and one more - blatant lies. From the point of psychological warfare, let’s not follow ‘blatant lies’, let’s not write lies. Spin we can; no matter how we spin a certain fact to be biased in our favour, that’s okay,” said Utusan Malaysia editor Mohd Zaini Hassan.

Fellow forum panellist, meanwhile, used Islam to justify deceptions against the opposition. Umno young ulama secretariat Fathul Bari Mat Jahaya rationalised this by “citing how Prophet Muhammad had used deception to fight his enemy.” I have been getting calls and messages asking me what I thought about this proposed anti-fake news bill. I just do not see the big deal. What this proposed bill does is makes it easier for the Umno state to control the narrative, scare the crap out of some people and allow for a certain amount of hand-wringing by a certain section of the general public.

The greater danger that the government made into law was the National Security Council (NSC) Act, but not many people showed any interest in that. This proposed bill is just another in a long line of clumsy efforts by a government in jeopardy because of its ineptitude and pecuniary scandals. What the Umno state has done is just another attempt to define what is fake. They do this with religion. They do this with race. They do this with myriad other issues and policies that affect us as a society. This is nothing new.

In fact, I do not think that this has much to do with the press in the boarder sense. I think this proposed bill is aimed at the average citizen. To restrict the flow of information. To stop people from using social media to ferment and encourage dissent. People spread crap that they know is false all the time and when it comes to partisan politics, there is a whole lot of horse manure to spread around. What this bill is supposed to do is put the fear of god into people so they would think twice about disseminating news that they think will get them into trouble. So, if it something that puts the government in a bad light even if it’s true, people would think that they would be a target of state intervention.

And you know what, they could be with this new law. Indeed, the state does not need this law to put its boot on the neck of anyone it wants to. This is Fear Tactics 101.

Will the people be cowed?

How many times has Malaysiakini been raided? How many times have opposition political personalities sued the mainstream media for libel and won? How many times has the establishment sued alternative media outlets for libel and won? There has always been a somewhat robust application of laws that restricts certain kinds of speeches and the usual state clampdown on what it perceives as “fake news”. The quote that opens this piece was used to justify non-intervention. But there have been some cases where people have been found guilty of spreading fake news in Malaysia, two come to mind:

1. “A former religious teacher and a housewife who disseminated fake news via their Facebook account regarding the halal and non-halal frozen meat, which were purportedly found stored together in a container, were fined RM2,000 each by the Sessions Court today.”
2. A teacher has become the first person in Malaysia to be charged in court for spreading false information through WhatsApp.

“Rafeah Buang, 36, pleaded not guilty before judge Awang Krisnada Awang Mahmud at the Tawau Sessions Court today on a charge of knowingly making and initiating false communications via WhatsApp with the intention of annoying others three years ago.” Does it make me a traitor to freedom of speech because I think they got what they deserved? Probably. The real reason for this proposed bill is to make the average citizen reconsider what he or she is spreading around. This is all about self-censorship and how the state literally wants you to enforce its definition of what fake news is.

But why act surprised? There are many partisans in the alternative media who want to silence dissenting views and they want certain media outlets of their choice to enforce this or they threaten to cancel their subscriptions. The real question, is will people be cowed? Will news organisations cave in to the threats from the state – and by news organisations I mean, organisations that do not have the protection of the state?

Ultimately, what this proposed bill does is demonstrate how weak the government is. After all, there are numerous laws in play – restrictive laws – that the government could use to silence dissent. What this law attempts to do is make the average citizen of this country complicit in their own subjugation.