Pakatan Rakyat fails to be Open, Transparent - Now using OSA to keep 'secrets'?

Transparency, Accountability .....these were amongst the promises by the Pakatan Rakyat before the the 2008 General Elections, and still we hear the same calls being made to the UMNO-led BN government at the Federal and State levels - but alas, now it is becoming clear that not only are the using the Akta Rahsia Rasmi [Official Secrets Act] to make more documents secret, but that they are not using also the powers that they do have to declassify documents classified as "Top Secret", "Secret", "Confidential" or "Restricted".

Even more disappointing is  that this "keep the people in the dark" policy also is reflected in their latest 'political gimmick' that Freedom of Information Bill when they define  in Clause 2 the interpretation of the word "information", i.e. that it "..means any documents made by any department of the State Government but does not include document - (a) which has been classified under the Official Secrets Act (1972) ...".

What is wrong with this?

Official Secrets Act (1972) has not only been acknowledged but approved the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat.  For the purposes of State documents, it is Menteri Besar/Chief Minister of the State that is empowered to mark documents as 'secret', etc ...or to declassify 'secret',...documents so that they can be made available.

the Civil society(including opposition parties before) have been campaigning for the repeal of the OSA.

[See earlier posts:-Freedom of Information Bill : Good move but still some shortcomings ]

 2.  Interpretation. [Official Secrets Act]

 "official secret"  means any document specified in the Schedule and any information and material relating thereto and includes any other official document, information and material as may be classified as "Top Secret", "Secret", "Confidential" or "Restricted", as the case may be, by a Minister, the Menteri Besar or Chief Minister of a State or such public officer appointed under section 2B;

And, what are these documents under the said Schedule?

SCHEDULE

(Section 2A)

Cabinet documents, records of decisions and deliberations including those of Cabinet committees;

State Executive Council documents, records of decisions and deliberations including those of State Executive Council committees;

Documents concerning national security, defence and international relations.

The power to break the seal of secrecy lies with the Menteri Besar or the Chief Minister of a State or the principal officer in charge of the administrative affairs of a State

2C.  Declassification of official secret by a Minister or a public officer.

A Minister or public officer charged with any responsibility in respect of any Ministry, department or any public service or the Menteri Besar or the Chief Minister of a State or the principal officer in charge of the administrative affairs of a State may, at any time, declassify any document specified in the Schedule or any official document, information or material as may have been classified and upon such declassification, the said document, information or material shall cease to be official secret.

At present, sadly the Pakatan Rakyat government seem to be inclined to continue to hide information and documents from the public. They have fallen short from being open, transparent and accountable.

Is the Selangor's Freedom of Information Bill hence is an attempt to delude us into believing that the Pakatan Rakyat (or rather Selangor's Pakatan Rakyat Menteri Besar and government) really is still true to the call for openness,  transparency and accountability...It is odd that they are only talking about a 3rd reading of the Bill will be not later that April 11 (that is almost 9 months away - and would it not be very close to the next General Elections), and by the time it becomes a Selangor Enactment it will be ..... One wonders whether the number of flaws in the present Bill was intentional --- for very easily feedback could have long ago obtained from the Bar Council and Civil Society, which they did not... Best to pass the Enactment soonest, and then get more feedback and table another Bill to make the necessary amendments.

This freedom of information Act is really a legislation that is setting the procedure for the application of information, documentation..... but really the time between application and getting the information is too long, and the power vested in the information officer is just too much - he/she decides which information/document can be given and which cannot. What we really need is a listing of available documents/information, and most important documents/information should be available on the websites...People should be able to send an e-mail and get information. People should be able to walk in a department and do a document search then and there + make copies. Every department should have a file room...

Budget speeches are available to the public - i.e. with regard to monies that they would like to spend and for what....BUT the statement of accounts (which will show income and expenditure) is marked 'secret' and hidden from the public. This action clearly raises the presumption that there may have been abuses, and there is something to hide. I recently made a request for the Selangor State government accounts, and this is the response that I got - Note that they have indeed used the Official Secrets Act (Akta Rahsia Rasmi) to keep the State accounts hidden from the public.

--- On Wed, 7/14/10, Noor Diana Binti Razali gov.my> wrote:

From: Noor Diana Binti Razali
Subject: RE: Feedback from Selangor portal (Dewan Undangan Negeri)
To: "Webadmin Pusat ICT Selangor" , "Charles Hector" <chef@tm.net. my>, "Mohd Yasid Bin Bidin"
Cc: "G_PAII" , "Siti Salbiah Binti Masri"
Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2010, 10:55 AM

Salam Sejahtera,

Dengan segala hormatnya saya merujuk kepada perkara di bawah.

2. Berhubung dengan Hansard, Tuan boleh merujuk kepada laman web Dewan Negeri di www.dun.selangor. gov.my.

3. Berkenaan pencarian Akta/Enakmen Negeri Selangor berserta Bil yang diedarkan semasa mesyuarat Persidangan, ianya telah diserahkan kepada Y.B. Adun. Tuan adalah dipohon untuk membuat     permohonan rasmi secara bertulis kepada Pentadbiran ini, dialamatkan kepada:-

Setiausaha Bahagian (Dewan/MMKN)
Pejabat Dewan Negeri Selangor
Tingkat 1, Bangunan Annex
Dewan Negeri Selangor
40000 Shah Alam.

4. Akaun Negeri Selangor merupakan perkara rahsia yang tertakhluk di bawah Akta Rahsia Rasmi, sehubungan dengan itu, dukacita dimaklumkan Pentadbiran ini tidak dapat membekalkan maklumat yang dimohon. Sekiranya terdapat sebarang bertanyaan, Tuan boleh berhubung terus ke:

Pegawai Kewangan Negeri Selangor
Pejabat Perbendaharaan Negeri Selangor,
Tingkat 12, Bangunan SSAAS,
40503 Shah Alam.

Sekian, harap maklum.

Noor Diana Razali
Pen. Setiausaha Dewan
Dewan Negeri Selangor
____________ _________ _________ _________ _
From: Webadmin Pusat ICT Selangor
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 9:48 AM
To: Charles Hector; Mohd Yasid Bin Bidin
Cc: G_PAII; Webadmin Pusat ICT Selangor; Noor Diana Binti Razali
Subject: RE: Feedback from Selangor portal (Dewan Undangan Negeri)

Selamat sejahtera,
Pertanyaan tuan dipanjangkan kepada Bahagian Dewan Undangan Negeri untuk maklumbalas sewajarnya.
Untuk makluman, Hansard bagi sesi persidangan yang lalu disediakan oleh petugas Dewan Undangan Negeri secara online di laman web http://dun.selangor .gov.my. Bagaimanapun laman tersebut sedang diselenggara untuk sementara waktu. Tuan boleh hubungi pegawai di Bahagian berkenaan untuk maklumat lanjut :
Tel. Bahagian Dewan Undangan Negeri : 03-55447613 / 7667
Tel. Operator SUK : 03-55447000

Terima kasih.
-Admin, Portal Selangor
____________ _________ _________ _________ _
From: Charles Hector [chef@tm.net. my]
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 12:29 PM
To: Webadmin Pusat ICT Selangor
Subject: Feedback from Selangor portal

The following were submitted via feedback form 'Pertanyaan' :

Your Feedback :
Di manakah Minit Dewan Undangan Negeri Selangor...atau 'Hansard'? Saya sedar kini ada rakaman video tetapi adakah minit secara bertulis bukan sahaja untuk persidangan selepas PR jadi kerajaan tetapi juga sebelum itu.

Di manakah saya dapat mencari Akta/Enakmen Negeri Selangor.... serta Bil baru yang dibentangkan apabila pemindaan atau undang-undang baru dicadangkan?

Akaun Negeri Selangor, bukan Bajet. Di manakah tempat saya boleh mencarinya. Mahu mengetahui s umber dan pendapatan, serta juga cara kerajaan telah membelanjakan duit rakyat.