12 Laws of Malaysia ACT 301 (6) A local or foreign publisher shall be responsible and liable for any action in respect of any material published in his publication. Offences 8. (1) Any person who without lawful excuse is found in possession of any prohibited publication shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand ringgit. (2) Any person who prints, imports, produces, reproduces, publishes, sells, issues, circulates, offers for sale, distributes or has in his possession for such purpose any prohibited publication shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand ringgit or to both. Offence to publish false news 8A. (1) Where in any publication there is maliciously published any false news, the printer, publisher, editor and the writer thereof shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand ringgit or to both. (2) For the purposes of this section, malice shall be presumed in default of evidence showing that, prior to publication, the accused took reasonable measures to verify the truth of the news. (3) No prosecution for an offence under this section shall be initiated without the consent in writing of the Public Prosecutor. Suppression of publication 8B. Where any person has been found guilty of any offence by any court in respect of anything published in any publication, it shall be lawful for the court upon the application of the Public Prosecutor to order the suppression of the publication for a period not exceeding six months of such publication.