Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's vocal ex-aide Matthias Chang is not convinced with the government's move to declassify documents pertaining to the contentious half-bridge issue. In fact, he called it a "fraud on the public".

In an email communique today, Chang called for complete disclosure of all documents relating to the case and not the partial release as had been done by the government. He also took the Umno-linked New Straits Times (NST) to task, in particular its group editor, Brendan Pereira.

According to Chang, a lawyer by profession, the classified documents released last week were already published by the Singapore government in the booklet Water talks? If Only It Could .

"In the circumstances, in law and in fact, these documents are in the public domain and cannot be considered 'classified' anymore," he said.

According to Chang, the NST on July 15 under the headline 'Declassified - What the official records tell' gave the impression that the documents referred to were something new.

"The spin was obvious," claimed Chang. "The government is bending backwards to be truthful and transparent and that these declassified documents will address and answer Mahathir's questions. They have not. Instead, they have given rise to more questions," he added.

"If only the government and the NST took a few minutes to examine the book Water talks? If Only It Could they would realise that the following letters - Lee Kuan Yew's letter (Aug 24, 2000), Mahathir's letter to Lee (March 4, 2002), Goh Chok Tong's letter (April 11, 2002), Mahathir's letter (Oct 7, 2002) and Goh's letter (Oct 14, 2002) - were in the public domain and therefore need not be declassified.

"It is old news and the public is well aware of their implications. The public was aware of these documents way back in April when I brought them to their notice. But it took the government and the NST almost three months to come to grips with these documents and yet they still cannot get it right," he claimed.

Chang alleged that the "spin which the government is making is a reflection of their desperation".

"Because the government controls the mass media, the spin doctors are banking that the public would accept their perverse version of the events," he said.

Release full minutes

Meanwhile, Chang also cited Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar's promise last month to declassify all documents relating to the bilateral negotiations between Malaysia and Singapore.

"The public is still waiting for the declassification of the relevant documents, in particular the entire minutes of the meeting between Pak Lah and Goh Chok Tong on March 1, 2005 and the minutes of the five rounds of negotiations between senior officials of Malaysia and Singapore. In the case of the latter minutes, it is clear that the offer to sell sand came from Malaysia.

"No extracts. We want the full minutes of the meetings," said Chang, who is former political secretary to then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

After offering a lengthy 'point by point rebuttal to the government's answers' in his email communique today, Chang urged Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to be honest with the rakyat

"He must declassify all the minutes of meetings relating to the bilateral negotiations between Malaysia and Singapore since he took over as prime minister," he added.

In declassifying the documents last Friday, the Prime Minister's Department said the government has "put the record straight on a string of allegations" raised by Mahathir.

The documents contained three key facts:

1) Discussions with Singapore on the airspace issue are not new and were not mooted by the current government under Abdullah.

2) The sale of sand to Singapore was raised by the republic during a meeting between Abdullah and Goh - who was then prime minister - on March 1, 2005.

3) Comprehensive advice by the Attorney-General's Chambers showed that Malaysia should not proceed to build a bridge unilaterally without complying with the legal obligations.