The right to information- The Malaysian Insider
February 3, 2011 — We are united by our hunger for information. For at least the last 40 years, we were content with whatever the mainstream media could provide because there were other much more pressing matters to resolve. Maintaining racial harmony while focusing on improving the economic lot of the people was paramount. While it may be argued that even today, we are not capable of reasoned intellectual discourse in the face of the information onslaught, there is no denying that whatever our race or political affiliation, we want to know.
While the Internet has unleashed a wealth of easily accessible information, it is not value neutral. There is as much disinformation as there is information. Opinions and facts are muddled in our heads in many instances. When multiple authorities are quoted on any issue, definitive answers are hard to come by. But we are also learning to ask the right questions, which shed the maximum light on specific issues.
The fact of the matter is that the necessity of dealing with the challenges of the knowledge economy has made us realise that information is power. As we make the transition from an agricultural and manufacturing economy to a service economy, we realise that it is impossible to function in the absence of information. The customer demands that she be recognised for her spending power, for her identity and be treated accordingly. All marketers and service providers know this. We are told everyday that today the only constant is change, but the first step towards change is access to information. Even a dating service requires a CV. No wonder then that this desire is spreading into our social and political interactions.
There is no reason why we should be denied information on our MP’s conduct, the issues facing our community, or even Malaysia’s standing and interaction with the world at large. We have come to understand that the only way to change and improve is to use information that we can today have access to.
While we have recognised and understood the power of information, the powers that be are still intent on releasing as little information on the workings of the government as possible. When asked about the possibility of introducing a Right To Information (RTI) Act in Parliament last year, Deputy Minister of Information, Culture and Communications Senator Heng Seai Kee said “the 1 Malaysia concept is sufficient to ensure transparency. The execution of 1 Malaysia has given people room and access to obtain information as long as it does not go against the laws and acts that have been outlined. Therefore the government has not considered enacting this Act or making this a focus point of government transformation.”
How 1 Malaysia and the RTI are linked was not made clear. On the other hand, there is evidence that the RTI executed fairly leads to transparency which in turn leads to greater accountability and a cleaner government. In the experience of India, which enacted RTI legislation in 2005, it has allowed ordinary citizens to stop government high-handedness, ask for attendance records of civil servants and their income statements and highlight corruption in the award of contracts in order to force accountability and reduce corruption. In this regard the move by the Selangor state administration to move towards a RTI, albeit in a limited way, is a step in the right direction. But for it to work on a broad based scale, it needs federal implementation too.
When illicit financial flows from Malaysia reach US$68.2 billion in 2008 according to the US based Global Financial integrity (GFI) watchdog, and its report states that the increase was “at a scale seen in few Asian countries and the volume of illegal capital flight from Malaysia has come to dwarf legitimate capital inflows into the country in recent years,” isn’t it time to empower our citizens to ask some hard questions of our bureaucrats and politicians? Are we not entitled to get some answers?
What we do with the information is another thing entirely. We can use it to demand and ensure accountability or we can use it to sling mud at those we don’t like. We can be logical or emotional, the choice is ours. But one thing is for sure, we do believe that there is no going back and access to information should be a right for all.
While the Internet has unleashed a wealth of easily accessible information, it is not value neutral. There is as much disinformation as there is information. Opinions and facts are muddled in our heads in many instances. When multiple authorities are quoted on any issue, definitive answers are hard to come by. But we are also learning to ask the right questions, which shed the maximum light on specific issues.
The fact of the matter is that the necessity of dealing with the challenges of the knowledge economy has made us realise that information is power. As we make the transition from an agricultural and manufacturing economy to a service economy, we realise that it is impossible to function in the absence of information. The customer demands that she be recognised for her spending power, for her identity and be treated accordingly. All marketers and service providers know this. We are told everyday that today the only constant is change, but the first step towards change is access to information. Even a dating service requires a CV. No wonder then that this desire is spreading into our social and political interactions.
There is no reason why we should be denied information on our MP’s conduct, the issues facing our community, or even Malaysia’s standing and interaction with the world at large. We have come to understand that the only way to change and improve is to use information that we can today have access to.
While we have recognised and understood the power of information, the powers that be are still intent on releasing as little information on the workings of the government as possible. When asked about the possibility of introducing a Right To Information (RTI) Act in Parliament last year, Deputy Minister of Information, Culture and Communications Senator Heng Seai Kee said “the 1 Malaysia concept is sufficient to ensure transparency. The execution of 1 Malaysia has given people room and access to obtain information as long as it does not go against the laws and acts that have been outlined. Therefore the government has not considered enacting this Act or making this a focus point of government transformation.”
How 1 Malaysia and the RTI are linked was not made clear. On the other hand, there is evidence that the RTI executed fairly leads to transparency which in turn leads to greater accountability and a cleaner government. In the experience of India, which enacted RTI legislation in 2005, it has allowed ordinary citizens to stop government high-handedness, ask for attendance records of civil servants and their income statements and highlight corruption in the award of contracts in order to force accountability and reduce corruption. In this regard the move by the Selangor state administration to move towards a RTI, albeit in a limited way, is a step in the right direction. But for it to work on a broad based scale, it needs federal implementation too.
When illicit financial flows from Malaysia reach US$68.2 billion in 2008 according to the US based Global Financial integrity (GFI) watchdog, and its report states that the increase was “at a scale seen in few Asian countries and the volume of illegal capital flight from Malaysia has come to dwarf legitimate capital inflows into the country in recent years,” isn’t it time to empower our citizens to ask some hard questions of our bureaucrats and politicians? Are we not entitled to get some answers?
What we do with the information is another thing entirely. We can use it to demand and ensure accountability or we can use it to sling mud at those we don’t like. We can be logical or emotional, the choice is ours. But one thing is for sure, we do believe that there is no going back and access to information should be a right for all.
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