Aliran dares govt to release ACA documents

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Reform movement Aliran today challenged the government to make public the Anti-Corruption Agency documents regarding two key politicians which led to Keadilan Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor being slapped with a two-year jail term for exposing them.

Aliran president P Ramakrishnan said by making the documents public, the people can judge for themselves in what way these documents threatened national security or posed a danger.

"We would like to know whether the government was justified in classifying them as government secrets," he added in a statement.

"Of course, we know the ruling Barisan Nasional government would not dare take up this challenge. It would then confirm what is open knowledge — the Official Secrets Act (OSA) is meant to cover up crony corruption, abuse of power and wrongdoings."

"As long as the OSA exists, it will remain a shameful piece of legislation, crafted by politicians only concerned about covering up their sins," said Ramakrishnan.

On Wednesday, Ezam was sentenced to two years in jail after being convicted of breaching the OSA.

He was accused of disclosing to reporters details of an ACA probe into International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz and former Melaka menteri besar Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik in Nov 1999.

The controversial OSA allows any public officer to declare any material an official secret and this cannot be questioned in court . The act allows for arrest and detention without a warrant, and substantially reverses the burden of proof.

It is not necessary for the authorities to show that the accused person was guilty of a particular act, and states that even if no act is proved, the accused person may still be convicted on the basis of "the circumstances of the case, his conduct or his known character..." if his purpose has been prejudicial to safety or interests of Malaysia.

Ramakrishnan said Ezam's conviction confirmed the existence of the documents implicating the two politicians, adding the conviction also established that "corruption is safe and protected by the Act".

"His conviction has proved that these are the documents he was referring to when he asked the authorities to take action against the two politicians for corruption.

"There is no other ways of interpreting the charges brought against him for trying to expose corruption involving top-notch politicians or the price that he had to pay for trying to do a favour to society by highlighting the cover-up," he said.

Politically destroyed

The Aliran president also said that by sentencing Ezam to two-year in jail, the government had "effectively knocked him out of electoral politics for the next seven years".

The sentencing, barring any successful appeal, will ensure that Ezam is ineligible to stand as a candidate for the next five years after having served his sentence. It will also disqualify him from holding any position in any political party or society.

"The government wanted to destroy him politically so that Keadilan will be weakened considerably."

Ezam, who is serving his sentence at the Kajang prison in Selangor was previously undergoing a two-year detention under the Internal Security Act at the Kamunting detention centre in Perak.

The 35-year-old former political secretary of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim was detained last year for allegedly planning to overthrow the government through militant means.

Also serving a two-year detention under the same charge are four other Keadilan leaders and a filmmaker-cum- malaysiakini columnist.

The six have denied the charge.



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