CIJ jointly organises Expert Group Meeting on Right to Information legislation
July 23, 2020
The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), in collaboration with the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department (BHEUU) and the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on Freedom of Expression, is jointly organising a closed-door Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on the Right to Information (RTI) legislation today in Kuala Lumpur.
The meeting, a follow-up to last year’s National Stakeholders Consultation on the Right to Information Legislation, aims at engaging key stakeholders and practitioners from relevant countries, government agencies and CSO experts to deliberate on specific outstanding issues. These include the development of a coherent and aligned framework and a roadmap to support the government in promoting and upholding the RTI through an enabling legislation.
In light of travel restrictions imposed to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, some parts of the EGM are being held online today. Participants include experts from different government agencies, civil society organisations, media, academia and national human rights institutions. International experts include Commissioner Daren Fitzhenry from the Scotland Information Commission, Commissioner Kishali Pinto Jayawardena of Sri Lanka’s Right to Information Commission, Commissioner Ainuddin Bahodury from the Afghanistan Access to Information Commission, Former Commissioner John Fresly from Indonesia, Dr. Sonia Randhawa from CIJ and Dr. Toby Mendel from the Centre for Law and Democracy (Canada).
Participants at the EGM on the RTI legislation in Kuala Lumpur on 23 July 2020. Picture credit: CIJThe fundamental premise behind promoting RTI is that it enables transparency and accountability and strengthens the public’s right to be informed. Access to information facilitates the public in forming opinions about issues that affect us, including holding the government and its related bodies and officials accountable for their decisions or actions that affect the general public. It also promotes constructive participation in any debate or discussions related to specific decision-making processes and/or of public interest and strengthens rule of law.
Malaysia has seen significant development in relation to RTI in recent years. Benchmarks towards the protection and realisation of the RTI are already initiated through the Selangor and Penang Freedom of Information (FOI) Enactments, which respectively seek to recognise and uphold the fundamental right to information, even if it is within the limited boundaries of each state. However, at present, these state-level enactments are expected to be in line with the federal-level Official Secrets Act (OSA), which takes precedence.
We hope the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government will continue with the previous government’s commitment to repeal the draconian OSA and enact an RTI legislation. It is time to replace the culture of secrecy at the federal level with a culture of openness to meet the growing public demands for transparency and accountability at all levels of governance.
23 July 2020
For media inquiries, contact Vinodh Pillai at media_comms@cijmalaysia.net
