No more fooling around

But it’s that time of the year - when fake news starts to fly like, well… flies.

IT’S Easter, too. So, nothing seems to be sacred anymore.

There are stories going around about Jesus Christ that would make any Christian cringe. I don’t believe that’s good. Jokes that involve religion are likely to hurt feelings.

Then again, that’s April Fool’s day.

It has traditionally been a day for fun stories. Legend has it that the world celebrated new year’s day in April. They still do in much of India and the Indo-Chinese countries like Thailand, Myanmar, Laos.

Along came Pope Gregory, who threw out 10 to 13 days from the calendar and decreed that Jan 1 would be the new year. Those who did not agree and chose to continue with their old ways were then the April Fools.

News organisations around the world have had fun with this day. There have been new civilisations found, new planets discovered and this year, there’s a Chinese space shuttle falling to earth, threatening to crash anywhere. Oops, that last one is not fake news. It’s fact.

The Star, too, has had its share of fake news on this day. Rocker Amy of Search apparently went bald when some minister decided that rock singers should have their hair cut.

And his fans went wild. Only when told it was an April Fool’s joke did they cool off.

The one I remember best was in the early 80s when it was reported that a cluster of comets were about to fall near Earth, over the Malaysian sky. For added effect, all interested in watching the phenomenon were asked to view it through dark glasses or negative films that could be obtained at The Star.

Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur and the Esplanade field in Penang were packed with people looking up at the night sky through those films.

I was among those at the Esplanade who had to break the news to the skywatchers that it was an April Fool’s joke.

We fled after telling the truth as many came after us. But almost all of them laughed it off after that.

What a long way we have come. We seem to have lost the ability to laugh at ourselves, to appreciate humour that involves taking the mickey out of us.

Remember Lat? One of his most memorable cartoons – for me – was that of then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad stuck at a toll plaza outside his office and going “Aiseh Samy, this is too much”.

Now, we may have people staring at jail terms for such a cartoon or that comet joke.

The Anti-Fake News Bill will soon be upon us. The Bill describes fake news as any news, information, data or report, which is wholly or partly false. And it comes in any form – as a visual, audio or recording, features, etc.

While it is a fact that there have been fake news spread in the country, like the non-existent thousands of Bangladeshis who voted at the last election, or the lights going out during the counting of votes, is it justified to impose a sweeping law upon all of us?

Even prominent banker Datuk Seri Nazir Razak feels that Bill should not be rushed. It needs much discussion.

The definitions, he says, are ambiguous and the punishment a tad too draconian.

International organisation Human Right Watch is also against the Bill.

A 10-year jail term, now reduced to six years is indeed heavy punishment for an ignorant or biased remark. Then, there is that RM100,000-odd fine. Many robbers get away easier.

The questions are aplenty. Who decides if the news is fake or not? Who decides if it is done with malice or not? What if a news item is correct but has a mistake. It would be partly false.

We are in uncharted waters here. Many countries are looking into similar Acts but all are still talking it over. Germany and Singapore are among those still talking.

Even the United States, whose president popularised the term fake news, has only been mulling over such a law.

We in Malaysia, however, are seen to be taking the lead. No, more than that. We are seen to be rushing it, for whatever reason.

Instead of adding more laws to the books, we could strengthen the laws that already exist.

And we should think about how these laws can be abused.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has pointed out that much of what is wrong with the country is due to Dr Mahathir. I agree. We did not stop to think then. We should now.

Truth cannot be a monopoly of any one person, or group.