Clear direction: Zamri delivering his opening remarks at the Roundtable on FOI in Malaysia. — Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR: The tabling of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill, along with the Ombudsman Malaysia Bill, have been deferred to early next year, says Legal Affairs Division (BHEUU) director-general Zamri Misman.
The two Bills were originally expected to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat by the end of this year.
“On Oct 17, 2025, the Cabinet decided that both the Ombudsman Malaysia Bill and the FOI Bill, which were originally designed to complement each other, be deferred to early 2026 to allow for further refinement and additional engagement.
“The deferment also allows the Attorney General’s Chambers sufficient time to review both Bills again, showing strong alignment, equal consistency and support across all levels of government.
“We expect both Bills to be tabled in Parliament by June 2026 or at the latest, during the October 2026 sitting,” Zamri said at a roundtable on FOI in Malaysia in conjunction with International Day for Universal Access to Information.
The director-general said BHEUU’s commitment to harmonise Malaysia’s legal and institutional realities with the universal principle of the right to information remains clear.
“The task is to create a balanced framework that protects sensitive information while upholding the people’s rights.
“Our FOI journey must go beyond legislation. It must be accompanied by capacity-building, awareness programmes and a mindset shift within the public service toward openness as a norm, not an exception,” he said.
Zamri noted that in 2024, BHEUU conducted seven nationwide engagement sessions involving over 1,500 participants from government agencies, academia, civil society and political experts.
The findings were presented in December 2024 to a Cabinet special committee chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, which agreed in principle and mandated the memorandum for Cabinet consideration.
In early 2025, the Cabinet approved the establishment of a pro-tem committee to prepare the draft FOI Bill.
The committee held meetings, workshops and stakeholder engagements between April and September, producing a working draft of the Bill.
