Fear mongers are trying to demonise the Anti-Fake News Bill 2018 in a fashion similar to attacks on the National Security Council Act 2016, Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said.

In a series of tweets today, Nur Jazlan said critics attacked the National Security Council (NSC) but those fears were unfounded.

"These same people bashed the NSC law in 2016 using the same negative and fear-mongering public statements... even though the NSC law was not utilised since inception. Stop it!" he posted.

Among the critics on his crosshairs was prominent lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan, who said the new law to combat fake news would cause a chilling effect during the general election campaign.

To this, Nur Jazlan said it was premature to judge a bill that has yet to be debated in Parliament.

"Fear mongering by Ambiga (photo) on a law that has yet to be debated in Parliament. Same thing (was said) during when the NSC bill (was tabled). Nothing happened later.

"She should debate in Parliament (by first) being a candidate in GE14," wrote Nur Jazlan.

Emasculated media

Meanwhile, former New Straits Times (NST) group editor Mustapha Kamil predicted that once passed, the anti-fake news law would result in the death of investigative reporting in the country and further reduce news media audiences.

"When it becomes law, expect to read 'news' originating largely from press conferences and press despatches or press releases," he said.

The report on the bill by NST today was an example of such practices, Mustapha said.

"Take a look at this NST report. It sticks just to the printed bill. No additional comments whatsoever.

"Perhaps to bolster its defences against possible mistakes or loopholes in the piece of short news, an entire team of journalists were involved in writing this short and straightforward piece of news," he said.