Two petitions containing more than 11,000 signatures were submitted to the Prime Minister's Department last night in a last-ditch effort to get Putrajaya to drop its controversial Anti-Fake News Bill.

Barring the government changing its mind, the bill will be debated and passed in Parliament later today.

The two petitions were initiated by Aliran and the United Kingdom & Eire Malaysian Law Student Union.

The first petition garnered 8,511 signatures, while the second collected 2,782.

"These two lists of over 11,000 signatories (as of March 30, 2018) have been emailed tonight to the Prime Minister’s Office and copied to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said," Aliran said on its website.

A cover note was attached to the petition, which expressed concern about who has the power to define what is fake news and the possibility of abuse.

It urged the government to withdraw the bill from Parliament.

The Anti-Fake News Bill initially provided a maximum punishment of up to 10 years' imprisonment and a RM500,000 fine for publishing "fake news."

However, the government has since revised the draft, reducing the proposed punishment to six years’ jail.