Lim called on the unity government to declassify four other publications. – Malay Mail photo
KUCHING (May 1): It is high time for Malaysia to be a role model for the world by transitioning from being an ‘official secrets’ country to a ‘freedom of information’ nation, said Lim Kit Siang.
The Democratic Action Party (DAP) veteran said with the declassification of the investigation report on the ‘Double-Six’ Nomad crash tragedy on June 6, 1976, followed by the declassification of the Australian investigation reports, the unity government should declassify four other publications.
He named them as the report of the Hishamuddin Yunus special committee on the management of foreign workers, the reports of the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) and the Institutional Reform Committee (IRC), and the lifting of the ban on Bernard Sta Maria’s book ‘The Golden Son of the Kadazan’.
“This will be a great present to all Malaysians in commemoration of May Day this year,” he said in his Labour Day message.
Lim recalled that he moved a motion on behalf of DAP in Parliament on Oct 16, 1979 to introduce a Private Member’s Bill entitled ‘Freedom of Information Act’.
He said the move aimed to ensure the government’s openness and to prevent the law on government information from protecting inefficiency, maladministration, or even malpractices and corruption.
“I moved the motion in the conviction that if Malaysia was to have a meaningful parliamentary democracy, we must create a more open government, which respects and upholds the fundamental right to know of the citizens in all matters affecting the country and the people.
“I made it clear that the DAP accepted that there were some legitimate secrets which need to be protected by criminal penalties, for instance, matters involving national security, defence, maintenance of law and order, and personal information,” he said.
Lim said he was prosecuted and convicted on five charges of violating the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 in 1978 for exposing excessive expenditure involved in the purchase of four Swedish-made SPIC A-M fast-strike craft for RM166 million, which was eventually reduced to RM157 million — a savings of RM9 million.
“Although there was no gratitude from the Executive for saving the country RM9 million, it wanted me jailed and disqualified as a member of Parliament for my exposes, which were made for the good of the country.
“But there was an independent Judiciary and the Federal Court reduced the sentences on the five convicted charges to each below the disqualifying fine of RM2,000,” he said.
According to Lim, his case resulted in the amendment of the OSA in 1986, which provided for the draconian mandatory minimum one-year jail sentence for conviction for any offence under the Act.
He said during his speech on the OSA Amendment Bill in Parliament on Dec 5, 1986, he had asserted that that the OSA Amendment Bill violated the fundamental guarantee of freedom of speech and expression enshrined in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.
He added that it also undermined the doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, Parliament, and Judiciary, a death knell for a free press and an open, responsible, and accountable government.
“We are in the age of information, which means the right to information must be the order of the day and not an exception.
“The time has come for Malaysia to be a role model to the world to make the transition from a ‘official secrets’ country to a ‘freedom of information’ nation,” he stressed.
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3AGBxaL
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