Dewan Negara

Dewan Negara passes Anti-Fake News Bill 2018

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Source: The Malay Mail Online

KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — The Dewan Negara today passed the Anti-Fake News Bill 2018 which represents a serious move by the government to check the dissemination of fake news brought on by the development of modern technology.

Dewan Negara president Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran announced that the bill was passed by a majority voice vote after 17 senators spoke during the debate on it.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, who tabled the bill earlier today, said during the winding-up of the debate that the government’s move to introduce the law would not restrict freedom of speech as it was only aimed at checking the dissemination of fake news.

She said that despite the existence of several relevant laws, it had been difficult to effectively and swiftly control the dissemination of fake news until today due to the rapid and complex development of information technology.

“The laws often cited in this matter, such as the Penal Code, Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, had been enacted in the 1990s or earlier and are unable to address the complex nature of the offences in line with the advancement of current technology,” she said. Read more →

Dewan Negara approves Sosma extension

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Source: The Malaysian Insight

THE controversial Security Offences (Special Measures) Act of 2012 (Sosma) is set to stay for the next five years after Dewan Negara voted to approve its extension.

Approved last night, the motion on the review of the implementation of subsection 4 (5) of the Act was submitted by Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

He said the proposed extension on the maximum 28-day detention period under subsection 4 (5) of Sosma was the first since it came into force on July 31, 2012.

“We look at Maria Chin’s (Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah) case. She is not a political detainee. What is her political party? So the allegation that Sosma is being used on political detainees is not true,” he said.

He added that throughout the enforcement period, there were no incidents of detainees dying or being injured from abuse. Read more →

Pelantikan senator tidak lagi ikut Perlembagaan, kata pakar

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Sumber: FMT News

Dewan Negara kini dilihat sebagai untuk kroni kerajaan atau parti dengan pelantikan 6 pemimpin Umno sebagai senator, kata Aziz Bari. Gambar dipetik dari FMT News.

Dewan Negara kini dilihat sebagai untuk kroni kerajaan atau parti dengan pelantikan 6 pemimpin Umno sebagai senator, kata Aziz Bari. Gambar dipetik dari FMT News.

PETALING JAYA: Kriteria pelantikan ke dalam Dewan Negara seolah-olah menyimpang daripada objektif digariskan Perlembagaan Persekutuan, kata pakar undang-undang dan menegaskan ia kini mejadi tempat untuk kroni kerajaan atau parti.

Dr Abdul Aziz Bari berkata, Dewan Negara, sebagai komponen ke-2 Parlimen, adalah untuk ahli masyarakat yang tidak boleh dipilih ke Dewan Rakyat.

Dan ini katanya, termasuk wakil kumpulan minoriti seperti Orang Asli, pesara atau kumpulan profesional.

Tetapi Aziz menegaskan Dewan Negara kini nampaknya menjadikan ia tempat untuk kroni kerajaan atau parti.

Beliau berkata demikian sebagai mengulas pelantikan 6 pemimpin Umno termasuk Naib Ketua Pemuda Umno Khairul Azwan Harun, kepada Dewan Negara. Read more →

Dewan Negara approves motion allowing Malaysia’s TPP participation

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Source: The Malaysian Insider

Dewan Negara has approved Malaysia's TPP participation. – Wikipedia pic, January 28, 2016.

Dewan Negara has approved Malaysia’s TPP participation. – Wikipedia pic, January 28, 2016.

The Dewan Negara has just approved a motion to allow Malaysia to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) following Dewan Rakyat’s endorsement yesterday.

The Senate sitting discussing TPP started this morning.

Dewan Rakyat‘s 127 backbenchers voted in favour of the pact while the 84 opposition MPs voted against the motion.

The lower house had a two-day special parliamentary meeting on the controversial multi-national trade pact.

The upper house, in a special meeting, approved, based on a voice vote, the motion to back Malaysia’s participation in the TPP, reported Bernama. Read more →

Dewan Negara luluskan RUU Majlis Keselamatan Negara

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Sumber: The Malaysian Insider

Dewan Negara meluluskan Rang Undang-undang Majlis Keselamatan Negara tanpa pindaan walaupun digesa untuk tidak membuat demikian. – Gambar The Malaysian Insider oleh Kamal Ariffin, 22 Disember, 2015.

Dewan Negara hari ini meluluskan Rang Undang-undang (RUU) Majlis Keselamatan Negara (MKN) tanpa pindaan yang dikritik kerana memberi kuasa penuh kepada perdana menteri.

Dengan undian majoriti menyokong, rang undang- undang itu‎ memberikan kuasa kepada anggota MKN yang diketuai Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak untuk mengarahkan penahanan mana-mana individu tanpa waran apabila sesuatu kawasan diisytiharkan sebagai kawasan keselamatan.

Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim ketika penggulungan bacaan RUU itu berkata, kerajaan bersedia menerima kritikan orang ramai yang memberi pandangan secara tafsiran dan ilmiah dan ianya wajar dibetulkan.

“Setelah ambil kira saya memberi pengakuan kerajaan akan mempertimbangkan sebaik- baiknya.

“Sekiranya ada kelemahan kerajaan akan kemukakan pindaan akta ini dalam sesi Parlimen akan datang,” katanya Shahidan ketika menggulung RUU MKN di Dewan Negara hari ini. Read more →

Opposition senators want to meet Dewan Negara president over NSC Bill

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Source: The Malaysian Insider

The National Security Council Bill will give the prime minister power to declare any area in Malaysia as a ‘security area’ if it was of the view that the security in that area was ‘seriously disturbed or threatened.’ – The Malaysian Insider file pic, December 15, 2015.

Opposition senators are expected to meet Dewan Negara President Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang tomorrow to urge him to defer debates on the National Security Council Bill to the next sitting.

DAP Senator Chandra Mohan S.T. said all senators and former senators from the Opposition would meet Abu Zahar as the Dewan Negara president had the power to defer the debates.

“The decision to table the bill is determined by the speaker.

“He doesn’t have to table it at this sitting, he can table it at the next sitting, it is within his power,” Chandra said at a press conference after a briefing on the bill by #TakNakDiktator Campaign Coalition.

Coalition spokesperson Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said despite her disappointment over the attendance of senators at the briefing, the coalition was still willing to meet the other senators on the matter. Read more →

Thousands petition Dewan Negara to reject security bill

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Source: The Malaysian Insider

A petition urging the Dewan Negara to reject the National Security Council (NSC) Bill 2015 has garnered over 21,500 supporters since it was launched at the change.org website on December 5.

The petition, posted by “Rakyat Malaysia”, urged senators to reject the bill as it would have a “drastically negative impact on the democracy and peace of our nation”.

Tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on December 1, the bill was passed on the last day of the lower house’s sitting on December 3, after some six hours of debate.

The bill allows a council headed by the prime minister to declare a security area and order arrests, searches and property seizures in that area without a warrant.

Critics said it would grant the prime minister “emergency-like powers” when such authority was with the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong as stipulated in the Federal Constitution.

In a petition update on the change.org website three days ago, Rakyat Malaysia posted a thank you note to signatories and reminded people that Dewan Negara would start discussing the bill this week.

Urging more to sign the petition, the update also said, “We must not lose out momentum as the days go past, and we must continue our efforts in sharing information and spreading news about how much harm NSC2015 can do.”

The update also said there had been other efforts to lobby the senators through letter-writing and urged people to take action. Read more →