Sabah govt told to become transparent and accountable

KOTA KINABALU - The Sabah Law Society (SLS) has urged the state government to pass freedom of information laws in a bid to make the current administration more open, transparent and accountable.

SLS president Brenndon Soh said such laws, also known as sunshine laws, were passed in Selangor and Penang in 2011, along with an open meeting enactment to ensure that the public is aware of the government’s activities at all times.

“We think it would be beneficial to the people if the freedom of information enactment is passed,” he said.

“Since the government was elected by the people to make decisions on their behalf, we should know what kind of decisions are being made, and the rationale behind them.”

Such information would include any documents affecting the plans, policies and laws in ministries, particularly those concerning education and health.

Soh said similar laws had been adopted by more than 100 countries around the world to great effect.

He added that the federal government had made freedom of information one of its election pledges, with efforts underway to make it a reality.
Sabah Law Society president Brenndon Soh.

“In Sabah, we should follow suit. If the current government wants to be more open, transparent and accountable than the previous government, this is one of the ways to show that it is moving in that direction.”

He acknowledged a possible hitch in the Official Secrets Act (OSA) but opined that the majority of government documents should not be considered secrets, except those involving national security.

In fact, he said, now would be a good time to either repeal or amend the OSA so that only “genuine” information of this sort is classified as confidential.

The open meeting enactment, meanwhile, would ensure transparency in deliberations on which public policy is based, he said.

“If there’s a decision being made by district councils or ministries, there should be no reason why the public cannot have access to the meetings.

“For example, central board meetings, town planning meetings – all these should be open to the public instead of done in isolation.”

In the US, he said, there were even laws stating that if meetings held via email involved the majority of committee members and if those committee members came to a decision, the public had the right to access the emails in question.

“The public wants to know how the government came to a decision.

“Having those two laws in place would go a long way towards having an open, transparent and accountable government.”