Scorpenes graft: Official Secrets Act must make way for Freedom of Information

Published by Malaysia Chronicle on 31 July 2011. By Maclean Patrick.

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act is indeed a step in the right way for a government to be transparent and accountable to the people it serves. It allows the people of a nation to have knowledge on the dealings of the government it has installed to look into its welfare.

Yet in Malaysia, the Official Secrets Act (OSA) may go head to head with the proposed FOI Act. The Official Secrets Act (OSA) passed in 1972 states, “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’, ‘Confidential’, ‘Secret’, 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”.

In 1983, a provision was added to the OSA that makes it an offense to not report anyone seeking official Information. If charged for not reporting foul play, the accused will face an $8600 fine and/or a 5-year prison sentence.

Under the OSA, the government can classify any document as “Secret” and this is a point of contention for the FOI Act. By implementing the FOI Act, the provision that allows this has to be removed and replaced with instead by a list of documents that can be classified secret.

The Schedule to the Act covers "Cabinet documents, records of decisions and deliberations including those of Cabinet committees", as well as similar documents for state executive councils. It also includes "documents concerning national security, defence and international relations"

Over the years the OSA has been used against bloggers, public documents such as toll concessionaires, water rates by a private water utility and a 433-page report of recommendations on how to fix the police force.

It is because the OSA is open to abuse by those in power, that it either has to be abolished or redesigned to allow for greater transparency and with a better classification to what can and cannot be considered state secret. With this the FOI Act can work, allowing the general public access to what and how the government is using public funds and to how the decisions came about.

Read more:

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=16811:scorpenes-graft-official-secrets-act-must-make-way-for-freedom-of-information&Itemid=2

John Stott Has Died

John Stott died 27 July 2011 at 3:15 London time (about 9:15 a.m. CST), according to John Stott Ministries President Benjamin Homan. Homan said that Stott's death came after complications related to old age and that he has been in discomfort for the last several weeks.

"An evangelical is a plain, ordinary Christian," John Stott told Christianity Today in an October 2006 interview. From his conversion at Rugby secondary school in 1938 to his death in 2011 at 90 years old, Stott exemplified how extraordinary plain, ordinary Christianity can be. He was not known as an original thinker, nor did he seek to be. He always turned to the Bible for understanding, and his unforgettable gift was to penetrate and explain the Scriptures. As editor Kenneth Kantzer wrote in CT's pages in 1981, "When I hear him expound a text, invariably I exclaim to myself, 'That's exactly what it means! Why didn't I see it before?'"...

Stott was every inch an evangelical, but a reforming evangelical. He recognized that evangelicalism could and sometimes did sink down into mere piety, whereas the Bible spoke of a robust transformation of the world brought about by God's people engaged in mission. As a London pastor, Stott increasingly recognized the need for evangelicalism to reclaim its heritage of engagement with the social issues of the day.

As he told an interviewer years later, "In the early 1960s, I began to travel in the Third World, and I saw poverty in Latin America, Africa, and Asia as I had not seen it before. It became clear to me that it was utterly impossible to take that old view." The "old view" was that preaching was always a Christian's preeminent task, and that deeds of compassion were strictly secondary. As Stott probed the Scriptures, he came to believe that Jesus' Great Commission commanded Jesus' servants to carry on his entire mission, which included practical concern for life and health.

One of Stott's most significant works—and one that carried him far out of his own expertise—was the book Issues Facing Christians Today (1984), in which he attempted to address crucial concerns of contemporary society such as abortion, industrial relations, and human rights. Earlier he had written Your Mind Matters: The Place of the Mind in the Christian Life (1972). In 1982, he helped to launch the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, which offered classes and lectures on a wide variety of topics relevant to life in modern society.

His greatest impact in the area of social concern came somewhat inadvertently. In 1974, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association convened an International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland. About 2,500 members attended (in addition to 1,300 other participants). About half of the delegates and speakers came from Majority World countries. The gathering's wide representation resembled meetings of the World Council of Churches, but the excited atmosphere of unified mission was unprecedented. Many participants grasped for the first time the global dimensions of the evangelical church. Almost 30 years later, Philip Jenkins would write The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. But as David Jones, president of John Stott Ministries, says, at Lausanne, "Jenkins' book was there in the faces and minds of people. Lausanne showed the global church that we can work together."

Read more here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/julyweb-only/john-stott-obit.html

CALLING FOR PUBLIC SUBMISSION OF EVIDENCE AND INFORMATION ON ALLEGATIONS OF VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRIOR TO AND DURING BERSIH RALLY

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) has decided to conduct a Public Inquiry into allegations of violations of human rights, including, the use of excessive force by the authorities prior to and during the public assembly on 9 July 2011. The Panel of Inquiry will be chaired by the Commission’s Vice-Chairman Professor Datuk Dr Khaw Lake Tee and assisted by Commissioners Professor Datuk Dr Mahmood Zuhdi b. Abdul Majid and Mr Detta Samen.

The Commission calls for public submissions of evidence and information following the allegations of amongst others, use of excessive force by the authorities prior to and during the public assembly on 9 July 2011. Members of the public who had witnessed any acts or incidents relating to such allegations, or who believe that they may be able to give relevant information and/or documents and other evidence including video/photo recordings pertaining to these or other such allegations are invited to contact the Commission as soon as possible.

More info may be found here:

http://www.suhakam.org.my/c/document_library/get_file?p_l_id=35723&folderId=441003&name=DLFE-12503.pdf

Tributes pour in for Raja Aziz Addruse

Published by The Malaysian Insider. By Clara Chooi.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — Bar Council members are mourning the death of their former president Raja Aziz Addruse, describing the prominent lawyer as the “eminence grise” to the Malaysian Bar.

Wikipedia defines “eminence grise” or “grey eminence” as a French term for a highly-respected individual who was made famous for his past accomplishments and who today plays the role of a powerful adviser to those who have succeeded him.

Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee told reporters today that Raja Aziz, who died this afternoon after a long battle with cancer, had been a “fearless” man during his time and a “lawyer’s lawyer”.

“He was a leading advocate in the Malaysian Bar, a very active human rights lawyer and an inspiration to many young lawyers. We would like to convey ur deepest condolences to his family,” he said.

Council vice-president Christopher Leong said Raja Aziz (picture) had been a “leading light” in times of trouble, adding that the latter would have likely been at the forefront of the Bersih 2.0 rally last Saturday, if he had been well.

“If not for his recent illness, I can assure you that Raja Aziz himself would have been at the forefront, leading us or some of the contingent in monitoring the rally.

“He will be remembered for a very long time,” he said.

Council treasurer Steven Thiru hailed Raja Aziz as an icon to all up and coming lawyers in the country.

“The way he conducted himself in the court, the way he conducted himself outside the court... all of which are lessons to be learned.

“I will always remember him as the eminence grise to the Malaysian Bar, a lawyer set apart from other lawyers in the country,” he said.

Human Rights Society of Malaysia (Hakam) president Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, calling Raja Aziz by his nickname “Ungku”, said the latter’s work had defined the Bar in many ways.

“He was truly an inspiration and a friend to so many of us. With his passing, we have come to an end of an era. He will be sorely missed,” he said.

Raja Aziz, who died this afternoon at age 74, was the first to stay as the Bar Council’s president for three terms.

He has appeared before the courts in a variety of high-profile human rights and rule-of-law cases. He was the lead counsel for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy I case in 1998 as well as the lead counsel for Chin Peng’s Homecoming case in 2007.

The senior constitutional lawyer had said on the last day of the 14th Malaysian Law Conference that the checks and balances that were in the 1957 constitution did not exist anymore.

Raja Aziz will be buried after Zohor tomorrow at 1pm at the Kiara Muslim Cemetery.

International News on Bersih 2.0

Aljazeera: Malaysia cracks down on protesters

Police in Malaysia have fired tear gas and arrested more than 1,600 protesters in the biggest opposition-backed rally in years, demanding electoral reforms.

Organisers said up to 50,000 demonstrators massed across Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, but the police put the number at closer to 10,000.

Several senior opposition leaders were arrested in a clampdown called Operation Erase Bersih, referring to the Bersih coalition, the group that organised the rally.

According to reports those arrested included 16 children.

Ambiga Sreenavasan, head of the Bersih coalition, said that the suppression of the protests had "stirred a sense of outrage against the exhibition of raw power by our government".

The New York Times: Thousands of Malaysians Rally for Changes to Elections

MSN News: Bersih 2.0 rally for electoral reform

Guardian UK: Malaysia police detain hundreds at rally

BBC News: Malaysia: Police fire tear gas at banned

The Independent UK: Malaysia fires tear gas and arrests hundreds at protest

Aljazeera: In Pictures: Protests suppressed in Malaysia

The Telegraph UK: Malaysia police arrest 500 after street battles for electoral reform

Amnesty international: MALAYSIAN ACTIVISTS HELD IN SECRET DETENTION

The Wall Street Journal: Crackdown 2.0 in Malaysia

MY Rights

MY Rights is an app that explains your rights when you are dealing with the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM). The app explains what you can and/or should do when you are being stopped, questioned, arrested, searched and remanded by a police officer.

Click on the link to download:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-rights/id424551722?mt=8