KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan government will not scrap the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA) despite having promised to review it prior to GE14.
Dr Mahathir told news portal Malaysiakini that the Act was needed to keep some matters secret and confidential.
“There will be no government because we are restricted, we cannot talk freely in the Cabinet because it will be known to the people ( if no OSA).
“There are things we must keep secret… For example, if we tell everything we discussed in the Cabinet, a lot of us will be hammered, you see,” he was quoted saying.
Besides the OSA, Pakatan Harapan had in its election manifesto promised to revamp the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010, Witness Protection Act 2009 and to enact a Freedom of Information Act, reported Malay Mail.
The previous Barisan Nasional government had used the OSA to classify the Auditor-General’s (A-G) report on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal as official secret.
Then Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli was sentenced to 18 months’ jail for releasing part of the report, but did not serve his sentence after PH took over Putrajaya, said the news portal.
However, Dr Mahathir said that this new government will not make use of the Official Secrets Act as the previous government did.
“The last government did not follow the rule of law. They did what they liked with the law.
“The main thing is to find a government that will not break the laws,” he said.
Malaysia World News
