Penal Code amendment planned for greater secrecy

A Bill to be presented in Parliament this week will push Malaysia into the dark ages of a totalitarian state as it threatens to imprison government officers who disclose any kind of information to the public, an opposition MP said today.

The Bill aims to include a new, draconian Section 203A to the Penal Code, which PKR vice-president N Surendran said would make the Penal Code worse than the already stringent 1972 Official Secrets Act (OSA).

Urging the government to immediately drop the proposed amendment, Surendran said, "This provision is unprecedented in any modern democracy; and is more suited to one-party states such as North Korea.

"With this provision, the BN is dragging Malaysia further into the dark ages. Why does the BN government need such an stifling and undemocratic law? What do they want to hide from the public?"

Under the OSA, only materials certified by the minister or his appointee can be classified as top secret or restricted. But under the new Section 203A of the Penal Code, everything becomes secret, Surendran, who is the MP for Padang Serai, added in a statement.

He warned that democracy, good governance and transparency in Malaysia would suffer a severe setback if Parliament passes the amendment.

"This provision is clearly intended to prevent the public from obtaining information that can expose corruption, financial scandals and mismanagement by the BN government," he said.

PKR has for long called for a more open government and for the enacting of a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

Two opposition run states, Selangor and Penang, have recently passed their FOI enactments, which allows the public to request for any state level non-sensitive information that is not subject to the federal OSA restrictions.