The government's attempt to push through an amendment to the Penal code criminalising unauthorised dissemination of information is nothing more than an attempt to cover up instances of its own corruption, accused NGO Lawyers for Libery (LFL).

NONEThe proposed new Section 203A of the Penal Code would mean that any officials who leak government information can be jailed up to a year or fined up to RM1 million.

"The amendment will effectively shield all ‘official’ documents and information received under written law with a cloak of secrecy, and can only be released legally according to the whims and fancies of the BN government, said LFL co-founder Eric Paulsen (right).

This, he said, would effectively put an end to whistleblowers revelations, which have, in the past, resulted in the scandals as the National Feedlot Corporation and Scorpene submarine purchase.

‘Criminalising whistleblowing’

"... (These documents) would no longer be legally accessible to the public and whistleblowers will be punished severely while the wrongdoers will be protected," he said.

The new amendment comes despite the existing Official Secrets Act 1972 which already carries a mandatory one year jail term for the dissemination of any documents deemed to be "secret".

"This amendment is certainly more oppressive than the OSA which at the very least requires a process of certification by a minister before a document is deemed ‘restricted’ under the Act,"  Paulsen said.

As such, he called on all MPs, civil society groups and the Malaysian Bar to oppose the amendment which he said would turn Malaysia into "a nightmare Kafkaesque secret state" if it passed.

"Such an odious piece of law has no place in a modern and democratic state like Malaysia and is more suited for totalitarian regimes in North Korea or Myanmar," he said.