Penang, Selangor gov't told to sync their Freedom of Information Enactments

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang and Selangor governments have been told to sync their respective Freedom of Information (FOI) Enactments to present a united front to the people.
NGO Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) founder Cynthia Gabriel said a similar platform can show that DAP and PKR in Pakatan Harapan (PH) stood for the same issues.
She urged leaders within the PH coalition to have talks to iron out issues surrounding information freedom in Penang, administered by a DAP chief minister and Selangor, governed by a PKR mentri besar.
"We need to find a way to show that public information campaigns can benefit society and the government," she said during a forum on FOI held in conjunction with "Right to Know Week".
Another panelist, Malaysiakini journalist Low Chia Ming urged the Penang government to use the "three-part test" used by other jurisdictions to exempt information from being released when applied for under FOI laws.
The test to exempt the release of information is that such information must relate to a legitimate aim listed in the law; disclosure must threaten to cause substantial harm to that aim; the harm to the aim must be greater than the public interest in having the information.
He added the Penang FOI law had a provision to bar information from being released if such information was detrimental to the economy of the state.
"Is such a definition too broad?" he asked and urged the administration to review the process on releasing information.
During the question and answer session, Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy, who oversees the Freedom of Information Enactment 2012 implementation, noted the concerns raised about the fees and the need to sign a statutory declaration (SD) before documents were released to applicants.
He said he will raise the matter with the exco and was also preparing a paper which will be presented to the exco soon.
Ramasamy also dismissed suggestions the state was deceiving the public if applications under the FOI were turned down.
"We might not be 100% perfect but this does not mean we are deceiving the public," he said adding that 2015 saw 71 applications and 41 applications were made up to July this year.