PETALING JAYA: With a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), anyone should be able to ask how much a particular government project actually costs, which company got it and whether they deserved it, say experts.
Ideally too, residents should be able to access government studies on whether the proposed new highway cutting through their neighbourhood will actually solve their traffic problems.
These scenarios could be a reality with the enactment of the FOIA, provided that the application process is simplified and that there are trained officers handling FOIA requests.
The lack of these two elements, experts said, are among the flaws of current free of information enactments in Selangor and Penang, which were established by Pakatan Harapan’s precursor, Pakatan Rakyat, in 2011 and 2010 respectively.
Equally important is that the types of information that are exempt from an FOIA request is limited to national security and defence, said Cynthia Gabriel, founder of the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4), an anti-graft organisation.
“We urge the Federal Government to ensure that non-security issues like contracts and procurement practices must be part of the information regime and not still tucked away under the Official Secrets Act (OSA),” Gabriel told The Star.
“In line with the data portal launched recently, the FOIA must work to build an enabling information paradigm, and slowly but surely isolate the OSA only to national security concerns.”
C4, along with civil society organisations such as the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and the Sinar Project, has consistently campaigned for an FOIA as a means to increase transparency and accountability in how the government operates and spends revenue.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the FOIA is part of the unity government pact’s efforts to combat graft and improve governance as stated in the mid-term review of the 12th Malaysia Plan.
The FOIA was agreed upon in a Sept 14 meeting of the Special Cabinet Committee on National Governance, which had previously been known as the Special Cabinet Committee on Corruption.
In his announcement, Anwar said that in line with greater transparency under the FOIA, the administration will also amend the Official Secrets Act 1972 and table a Government Procurement Bill.
The CIJ, another outfit that has pushed for the right to information laws, said the government’s plan will improve public services and promote public participation in national policies.
“A progressive right to information regime will promote a culture of transparency and contribute to enhancing the public’s trust in the governance process,” said CIJ executive director Wathshlah G. Naidu.
Sinar Project’s Isad Chung said it is imperative that Putrajaya learn from the mistakes and shortcomings of Selangor and Penang’s FOIA mechanisms so as to live up to the federal law’s promise.
Chung said the group had mixed experiences when making FOIA requests to Penang and Selangor agencies as there were not enough competent officers to handle the applications.
“Some Selangor departments didn’t respond, some did not have an appointed information officer (IO), some rejected requests without proper reasons or valid citations of the enactment,” said Chung, Sinar Project’s programme officer.
During one year, Selangor did not have an updated list of all its IO and there was no guide as to where to apply and pay for a request, he added.
“Selangor has also not appointed an Appeals Board, so appeals are left pending,” Chung said of appeals to wrong, incomplete or rejected FOIA requests.
“For appeals, you need to submit an appeal to a registrar, but where and who is the registrar is not clear.”
However, some departments, such as the Seberang Perai City Council, have taken the initiative to improve the accessibility of FOIA requests by digitising applications and payments.
Selangor’s fees are RM12 per application but Penang charges RM50 for a request made for information in the current year while applications for previous years are RM100 per year.
But there are also good experiences where certain departments are accommodating with requests for information, Chung said.
“One department in Penang did not go through the FOIA channel to send me the report I requested. They simply asked for a pendrive to transfer the document,” he added.
