By: Zachary Chambers Hill

It may not be listed anywhere on your desk-calendar, but for the Selangor State Government, May 19, 2009 marked a very important holiday.

The Pakatan-led office heralded May 19 as “Selangor Press Freedom Day,” a nod to the UNESCO-spearheaded “World Press Freedom Day” held earlier this month. On this day, the state government announced its intentions of wanting to enact the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, launched the Selangor's online and paper versions of SelangorKini, the State’s community newspaper, as well as the State’s online television station TVSelangor, a first attempt at localized public broadcasting. While each of these outlets entered content production a month or more ago, today’s event marked their first ‘official’ launch.

For the civil society, the formal announcement of the state's intention to enact the FOI is a sweet foretaste to after 5 years of lobbying. To Khalid Ibrahim's credit, prior to his election as Chief Minister, Khalid Ibrahim was one of the vocal callers for an FOI law as an antidote to the Official Secrets Act. He was involved, as the then Treasurer for the People's Justice Party (PKR) to force the message of Right to Information (RTI) to the government through his work with the Coalition Against Toll Hike, and after he assumed office, he continues the engagement with groups who've had a storied history within the RTI movement. The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), which currently spearheads the State’s RTI Task Force, ignited the RTI drive in Malaysia with the formation of the National Freedom of Information Coalition in 2004. In 2007, CIJ with the consultation from the London-based Article 19 prepared a draft FOI bill, which is now the basis for the Selangor's bill.

To raise public awareness of the pending Bill, "Selangor Press Freedom Day" was also a platform for a Panel Discussion featuring State Executive Councilor and Chairperson Elizabeth Wong—a former RTI activist with human rights group SUARAM and presently chair of the State’s Freedom of Information Task Force—as well as representatives from the CIJ, the Bar Council, Transparency International, the Centre for Policy Initiatives, and Malaysiakini. After a key note address by the Chief Minister, Tricia Yeoh, Research Officer for the state government and host for the panel opened the discussion.

Panelists gave wide approval to the State’s enactment of a Right to Information Law as the necessary step to a transparent administration. “RTI is one of the most effective tools against corruption and maladministration,” said Transparency International’s Ngooi Chiu Eng. “It allows media and civil society to promote transparency, and transparency acts as a deterrent.”

Other panelists, however, noted that the passing of legislation would by no means be a cure-all. “Freedom of information is a collective responsibility. All of us share this burden. The state, however, plays the major role in nurturing it or destroying it,” said CPI Director Lim Teck Ghee, to nods of approval from the crowd. Indeed, almost every speaker made sure to emphasize that the struggle for the Right to Information extended beyond the mere enactment of a law.

CIJ Program Director Sevan Doraisamy emphasized the need to secure the cooperation of the Civil Service to ensure the law’s successful implementation. He was optimistic, however, about their willingness to participate. “The major gain for the civil service is that they can finally take credit for the good work they do,” he said. “At the moment, good news is met with far more skepticism than bad news. Even when officials do their job well, no one believes the evidence .”

Meanwhile, Malaysiakini Training Editor Padmaja Padman pointed out that the Selangor Government could initiate pro-RTI policies before the Bill was even tabled. “Government doesn’t even need to wait until the law is passed to start making changes,” she asserted. “The state can already begin to de-classify things like draft laws, budgets at all levels, loan agreements, contracts, local council records and discussions, and privatization agreements that are published by the state. Things like information about how to apply for services, business functions. What the state could do is to review the quality and quantity of such information to make it accessible and useful to citizens.”

The panelists’ speeches were followed by a thirty-minute question and answer session for the public to address concerns. A major issue brought up by the audience was whether the Selangor law would conflict with national-level legislation like the Official Secrets Act. YB Wong maintained, however, that the Selangor law would not overlap with the national government’s jurisdiction. H R Dipendra from the Bar Council reinforced Wong’s opinion, emphasizing that Section 2C of the Official Secrets Act gave the Selangor Menteri Besar the power to declassify certain documents, and reiterating that the Selangor law would not extend into information created and maintained by the Federal government.

“We cannot compel a third party to give you information, but we can give you what we have,” said Wong.

The Right to Information Bill is scheduled to be tabled in the Selangor State Assembly in July.

Pictures courtesy for Selangor state gov, with special thanks to Tricia Yeoh, Research Officer.