Ku Li says OSA promotes corruption

The former finance minister also wants the finance minister's powers to be curbed.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: Former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has asked for a review of the Official Secrets Act ( OSA) and the Financial Procedures Act (FPA) to curb the powers of the finance minister.

He said the OSA legislation “conceals thousands of lies” and a review was necessary to combat corruption.

The Umno veteran, popularly known as Ku Li, said, “Not everything must be a secret. I am not angry with the government but this is the weakness in our system because we abuse existing powers.”

Speaking of the FPA, he said, “I know this act because I used it when I was in the Finance Ministry,” said the Gua Musang MP when speaking at a forum today.

He said the “absolute powers” vested in the finance minister through the FPA must be reviewed as it provided room for corruption.

The veteran Umno leader said loopholes in the act allowed the minister to award contracts to any party through direct negotiations.

“If we want to control corruption, we must look into the Financial Procedures Act,” he said at a press conference following the forum.

The Financial Procedures Act gives absolute power to the finance minister through Parliament.

KL Pakatan MPs refuse to sign OSA document

Pakatan MPs invited to meet the Federal Territories Minister were asked to sign a OSA document, which they duly refused
UPDATED

KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition members of parliament in Kuala Lumpur were asked to sign a Official Secrets Act (OSA) document during their meeting with Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to discuss the hike in quit rent, among other issues.

The minister had called for the meeting with MPs of both sides of the divide in Kuala Lumpur to give detailed explanation on the Kuala Lumpur Draft Plan and the latest move by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall to hike quit rent for properties in the city.

The proposed rate hike has caused an uproar not only among property owners but also politicians, who felt that the hike was way too high.

Speaking to FMT, Batu MP Tian Chua said that Pakatan MPs refused to sign the OSA document circulated during the meeting.

According to a City Hall source, the document was to ensure that the MPs do not divulge details of sensitive documents, presented during the meeting.

“We just wanted to take precautions so that details of these important documents are not leaked. We also wanted to ensure the MPs do not make misleading statements to the media,” he told FMT.

Meanwhile all, opposition MPs who attended the meeting this afternoon confirmed that they refused to sign the OSA document.

Only land value rates to be reviewed

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Tengku Adnan said the proposed quit rent rates will remain at 6 percent and only the land value rates will be reviewed.

He said the City Hall had sent 507,000 notices on the matter to property owners in Kuala Lumpur and have only received 2,500 objection notices from them.

The FT Minister said property owners have until Dec 17 to send in their objection notices if they were unhappy with the new rates.

“The land value rate review should have been done every 5-years, but we are reviewing it after 21-years. We did not increase the rates for the last two decades because we were concerned about the plight of residents,” he added.

Meanwhile Tian Chua said Pakatan Rakyat MPs had given a few suggestions during the meeting and one of them was to defer the new rate hike by another 6 months.

“It looks like the city council is not ready to postpone or stop the review exercise,” he said.

However, Tian Chua said the FT Minister was only willing to review the land assessment rate and give a discount on it.

At the moment houses pay quit rent at 6% and commercial buildings at 12% of their total value per annum.

The Batu MP said the new rates would definitely be a burden to the people, especially low and middle income earners.

He also pointed out that the review exercise should not be more than the inflation value.

He said Pakatan Rakyat MPs will continue to voice their protest over the hike until an amicable solution to the problem was found.