Three members of Penang Gerakan Youth wing today don surgical masks outside the State Legislative Assembly as a symbolic move to show that citizens are being silenced despite the existence of the state’s Freedom of Information Enactment (FOI).

Leading the show was State Gerakan acting Youth chief Jason Loo, who urged the state assembly to abolish the requirement to sign a statutory declaration when applicants purchase documents under the FOI.

“The requirement goes against the spirit and principle of the FOI Enactment; abolish it (FOI) if you (the state government) are not ready to abolish the requirement to sign the SD,” Loo told reporters.

He said he was asked to sign the SD in February when he purchased the agreements for development projects in Bayan Baru and Bayan Mutiara.

According to the SD, if he were provided the requested documents, he could only use them for “reference and personal research”.

Loo (on right in photo) added: “This means that the public or opposition parties cannot use the documents to check on the state administration.

“The SD requires the applicants not to copy or quote the documents or make any modification for the purpose of negative statements against the state government.”

On Feb 4, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng announced that the Bayan Bay and Bayan Mutiara agreements would be declassified.

When he was asked to sign the SD, a curious Loo had questioned the intention and sincerity of the state government.

“Did the state government obtain the approval from the state assembly? Did the state executive councillor approve the decision to get applicants to sign the SD without the consent of the state assembly?” Loo asked.

'State using FOI as marketing tool'

He described Penang as being “locked in the case” as the requirement to sign a SD under the FOI Enactment is not acceptable to the people.

Loo also accused the state of using the FOI as a marketing tool as it was an election promise of the state government during the 2008 general election.

In response, the state executive councillor in charge of the FOI Enactment, P Ramasamy, said Loo is allowed to expressed his opinion and the state would look into his request.

“There was much debate about the SD requirement in the state executive council,” said Ramasamy, who is also Deputy Chief Minister II and Perai assemblyperson.

“I will not stop him expressing his views, although I wish he had done it earlier, during the previous state government (when the FOI Enactment was not implemented yet),” he added.

Ramasamy said Loo could still use the information he gathers from the documents but is prohibited from publicising documents that are classified.

“Not all documents require the signing of the SD; only those that were previously declassified,” he said