Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. -Bernamapic
PETALING JAYA: Datuk Heng Seai Kie has called on the DAP and the ruling government to walk the talk and repeal the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA) after Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad (pic) announced that the law would remain.
The Wanita MCA chairman said the about-turn was another violation of the ruling government's manifesto.
"When DAP was still the opposition, it repeatedly said Malaysia needed to form a more open government to respect and safeguard the basic rights of the rakyat and that people had the right to know.
"DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang repeatedly emphasised that the OSA was outdated, obsolete in the information age and that the Act should be abolished and replaced by the Freedom of Information Act," she said in a statement Tuesday (Aug 28).
She urged DAP to stand up to the Prime Minister for neglecting public sentiments and breaching the promise made to the public.
Dr Mahathir, in an interview with Malaysiakini on Monday (Aug 27), said the OSA would be retained.
“The law is not perfect. It is open to abuse, but you hope to find people who will not break the law, who will obey the rule of law. That is what is important.
“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 law,” he said in the interview.
Dr Mahathir amended the OSA in 1986 during his first stint as prime minister to include a mandatory jail sentence of at least one year for those found guilty.
Over the years, the law has been used against politicians like Lim Kit Siang, who once described the OSA as the “most monstrous and draconian law in the entire Mahathir government” and would result in a “cowed press” and a “cowed Parliament”.
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