KUALA LUMPUR, 22 Oct: Today, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) repeated its stance to continue to urge Putrajaya to retract the proposed amendment to Clause 11 of the Penal Code which prevents public servants from disclosing internal government information.
Member of Parliament for Padang Serai, N Surendran said the provision is similar to the Official Secrets Act (OSA) which is only appropriate to be used in autocratic countries such as North Korea.
He said the proposal which is to be implemented shows that the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration is trying to conceal abuse of power by introducing the provision.
“Clause 11 is the latest OSA in our country because government employees cannot disclose any information. Although PR MPs have produces a good argument, the government still refuses to retract the provision.
“PR would like to ask the government to review this matter because its implementation is irrelevant and it is an attempt to cover up existing mistakes,” he said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.
Surendran, who is also a Vice-President of PKR, confirmed that the Central Government withdrew two clauses in the proposed amendment to the Penal Code regarding vandalism and contempt of the Jalur Gemilang (national flag).
He said they received a notice of withdrawal of the two clauses (5 and 33) after a debate in the House of Representatives yesterday.
“We do not support any attempt to change the Jalur Gemilang, but we oppose any sentence that is too heavy to be imposed on anyone who allegedly insult the country’s official flag.
“We cannot force the people to not do this and in my opinion, the Central Government is too sensitive,” he said.
