Lack of a Freedom of Information Enactment no justification for not being open, transparent and accountable..

Whilst it is indeed good that the the Pakatan Rakyat government of Selangor will be tabling a 'Freedom of Information Bill' after more than 2 years in power, one has to note that there has been not much of transparency and accountability at various levels of Selangor State administration.

Many things could have been done before - for really there is no need to wait for any State law, as many actions of transparency and accountability was never prevented by any existing law,...merely bad precedence carried forward from the days of UMNO-led BN rule. 

Local Council 

* Still no announcement and invites to the public to meetings of the Local Council, which by the way by law is open to the public. No announcement of when these meetings are. No announcement of the Agenda of these meeting. No publication of the minutes of these meetings in even their own websites. [Some may try to blame 'old' staff, still loyal to the old UMNO-led BN regime - but really in this day and age, one can always post these information even on Blogs/Websites of individual Local Councillors]

* Information of the contents of Acts, By-Laws, Regulations governing particular Local Councils. Mere mention of the title is insufficient, because these are not readily available in the open market. It really is not at all difficult. Keeping people ignorant of the law, procedures, etc... can lead to abuse of powers..and even corruption.

* Money and Accounts - Why is there still no statement of accounts. People would like to know how much income  individual Local Councils get, and from what sources...and of course, how is it being spend. How much money is being wasted for ceremonial costumes of Local Councillors, trips & excursions, etc? [After all, money was used for all kinds of 'funny' things during the UMNO-led BN, and with no annual reports and accounts of Local Councils made public, many will believe that the same kind of hanky panky is still happening, and the only difference this time may be is that they are from a different set of political parties.

** I have repeatedly suggested 'little' easy actions that can be taken to improve on accountability, transparency and.... freedom of information but alas there still seem to be no(or very little) improvement. What will a Freedom of Information Act/Enactment do in this case, where the people in power just seem to have no political will to change...

See earlier posts:

See earlier posts:

MBPJ - A sad reflection of Pakatan Rakyat, No Transparency, Accountability, Not Pro-People - Am I wasting my time?

 MBPJ - More proposals for reform & wondering the reason for not implementing simple reforms already suggested..

MBPJ meeting are open to the public - but people do not know this, or when, or what is on the agenda....

Meeting of Local Council (MBPJ, etc) should be open to the public...

Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya - No changes because Mayor and staff following 'old policies and old ways...' of BN - so, not Pakatan's fault

Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya - Where is the transparency and accountability?

MBPJ is still not transparent, accountable and giving effect to Reformasi, 'People Power'...Makkal Sakti, Kuasa Rakyat..

State Legislative Assembly & State Government

- Well, do we even have the Minutes of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly available online?

- What about copies of the Bills, and also State Enactments that have been passed?

- What about accounts? How much did Selangor State Government make? What are the sources of income? How was it spend? 

- In Thailand, everytime the Cabinet meets, there are 'Cabinet Resolutions' that are made available to the public - and the people know about the decisions made...the government policy - and the government is bound by these decisions, and it stands until amended, revoked, etc... Selangor and Pakatan Rakyat States should also have this...

Whilst, the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor State Government is keen to declassify documents marked 'Secret' during the reign of the old UMNO-led  BN government, they have not been too open, transparent and accountable themselves... [Some justify saying that they are new, and are just learning to govern,....and we have to give them time. Some say that there just too many ex-UMNO, ex-BN personalities in the new Pakatan government, who are resistant to changes and prefer to follow the old UMNO/BN ways and culture. And that is why people must help this new 'Reformasi' government by being critical - pointing out areas that need changes, and maybe even making suggestions on how these changes could be brought about. But sometimes, this also is not enough - because the one who sit in the seats of power may just not have the political will to change things...To keep its supporter, us who want changes, from time to time, they do things to keep that hope alive...like writing to EC about Local Council Elections, and maybe 2 years plus later introducing plans of a Freedom of Information Bill...] 

Really wonder whether the Pakatan Rakyat State governments is still using the Official Secret Act to classify some documents in the Pakatan-ruled State 'secret'? Would not be a contradiction?

Selangor will be the first state to table the Freedom of Information Enactment in its state assembly in the next sitting which is scheduled from July 12 to 16.

According to state research officer Tricia Yeoh (below), the first reading of the law which was first mooted in 2009 will be the first of three stages before the draft becomes law.

She added that following this, the draft will be handed to a select committee which will gather public feedback and study similar laws in countries like Finland, Australia and the UK, where it is also referred to as the sunshine laws.

This will be used to amend the draft, after which it will be tabled for a second reading at the state assembly.

“No decision has been made over who the members of the committee will be but it would consist of representatives from the state assembly and other experts.

"We also hope to have involvement from the backbenchers club,” she said when contacted.

The act has received considerable attention, with the attorney-general saying that he would study it to ensure that it does not contradict the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

However, according to Yeoh, the Freedom of Information Enactment will not interfere with the federal Act as it only pertains to information under the state's purview.

Decentralising power

As it stands, she said, the Menteri Besar is allowed under Section 2C of the Official Secrets Act to declassify information to do with the state.

“What we are doing essentially is to decentralise this power,” she said.

Selangor's enactment will however come with a list of restrictions, she said, mainly to do with national, state or personal security and state resources.

“But the exemptions will be clear so people will know what they can apply for and what they cannot,” she said.

She added that other areas which could fall under the enactment include information about government procurement and tenders, as long as it does not affect the outcome of bids.

The enactment in Selangor is likely to influence other Pakatan Rakyat-ruled states, with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng in May announcing the state's intention to follow suit. - Malaysiakini, 7/7/2010, Freedom of info: S'gor to table sunshine law bill