Human rights NGO Suaram and the Penang Chinese Media and Photographers Association (Pewaju) submitted a memorandum to the state government today, urging it to reduce fees for freedom of information (FOI) applications.

Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, who heads the FOI committee, received the memorandum at his office in Komtar.

The two organisations have also jointly proposed four ways to the Penang government to make its 2010 FOI Act more effective and accessible to the public.

A spokesperson for Pewaju, Kew Si Cheng ( photo ), asked for a reduction in application, appeal and photocopy fees for documents which the public deem “exorbitantly high”.

Currently, the application fee for a document is RM50 (for the current year information), and RM100 (for past year information), while photocopy fee is RM1 per piece, and RM50 for appeal fees.

This contrasted with the price list of the Selangor government which also implements the FOI where the application fee is only RM12, photocopy cost is 20 sen per piece and appeal fees is RM20.

Kew appealed to the Penang government to reduce the application fees to RM10 for current information and RM20 for past information; photocopy fees to 10 sen per piece and appeal fees to reduce to RM20.

“The high fees for the documents becomes a burden to the public, especially those from the lower income group,” Kew told reporters at the event.

“Other suggestions include having the information officer assist applicants in requesting for documents so that none would be rejected on reasons such as the information was not complete,” said Kew, who spoke on behalf of 15 local media outlets.

“We also suggest the Penang government promote the FOI Act so the public would be aware of the access to the services available for request, and to upload relevant information on its website so that it saves the public time and money,” he added.

When met, Ramasamy ( photo ) said the appeals in the memorandum will be raised at the coming state executive council meeting on Wednesday.

He added that the proposals by Suaram and Pewaju will also be discussed in the FOI committee.

Nothing is cast in iron and stone, says DCM

“Nothing is cast in iron and stone, if people feel the fees are too high, we will reconsider it,” he said.

Asked how many applications for documents the state has received so far, Ramasamy said seven.

However, three were rejected as the applications did not clearly state the name of the companies involved, he added.

It is noted that the Selangor government has received 130 applicants under its FOI enactment.

“That shows the openess of the Penang government,” Ramasamy jested, referring to the low number of applications for documents under the state’s FOI compared to Selangor.