FOI: Keeping the lid open

A test of democracy: We need to clearly define where privacy rights end and the public’s right to information begins in order to have a truly effective FOI law. — 123rf

WHEN Wathshlah Naidu talks about the fight for a federal-level Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in Malaysia, she describes it as a marathon.

“It feels like we’ve run several loops of marathon since 2008 to get here,” says the executive director for the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ).