DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang ( photo ) today criticised Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung's view that Malaysians are not ready for freedom of information, saying that it is precisely such attitudes that keep Malaysians locked in a "Third World mentality".

Lim said Chor's statement was "most unfortunate and regrettable" considering that Acting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had o­nly recently urged Malaysians to embrace First World working practices to help the country achieve its goal to be an industrialised nation by 2020.

"Chor's statement (went) against the trend of greater transparency and good governance in the last decade, as evident from the fact that over 40 countries now have comprehensive laws upholding the right to information and facilitating access to state records while 30 other countries are in the process of enacting such legislation," he said in a press statement.