Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Steven Sim has called for the Council of Eminent Persons’ (CEP) reports to be made public.

The reports – one by the CEP itself, and another by the Institutional Reforms Committee that it had set up – were previously handed to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who subsequently said they would not be available for public scrutiny.

Today, Sim urged for this to be reconsidered.

“The government should make public the reports of the CEP, mainly because the whole idea behind the CEP is to look at what the problems and challenges in our country are post-May 9.

“And the very reason for the existence of this government is because people wanted to know (about these problems)," he told a press conference at Angkasapuri, Kuala Lumpur.

“I don’t see any reason why the government should not release the report.

"Even as a member of the administration, I would support the release of these reports,” he added. 

The DAP lawmaker added that it was important for Pakatan Harapan to be transparent for the sake of accountability, as well as to manage the rakyat’s expectations.

“To be accountable to the people means to tell them upfront, to be honest.

“If we can’t deliver A, B or C (and we show that it is) because of the challenges or problems we are facing... from that perspective, I believe people will understand,” he said.

'IRC ready to share'

Similarly, Centre for Combating Corruption and Cronyism (C4) founder Cynthia Gabriel (photo) reiterated her call for the reports, especially the IRC report, to be published.

“I take that some things might be very sensitive in the report... but there could be willingness to partially share a lot of the reform proposals.

“The IRC, that was part of the CEP, is actually ready to share information (with the public),” she said.

IRC members Ambiga Sreenevasan and Mah Weng Kai previously called for their report to be released, but Mahathir previously stated that the CEP needed only to be accountable to him.

"Their job is to investigate and report to me. Whether I accept the report or not, is my business.

“The main thing is to feed me with the information I need in order to make decisions, so it is the government’s business.

"When we make decisions in government, we don't always publish it,” he had said.

Access to govt info should be by ‘default’

Sim and Gabriel’s comments were made following a discussion on the 'Benefits and challenges of access to information in Malaysia' organised by Unesco, RTM and the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD).

During the talk, Sim contended that in line with the right to information which Malaysians ought to have, all government information should be free for all “by default”.

“Freedom of information should not be seen as a privilege, it should be a right.

“In my opinion, tools like the Freedom of Information (Act) should be a measure of last resort (because) government information should be by default easily available and accessible for public consumption,” he said.

Read more: OSA will render Freedom of Information law useless - UM don

Sim added that exemptions to freedom of information must be extraordinary, limited and specific.

“We need to shift, as a country and society, from a culture of secrecy to a culture of openness and transparency when it comes to government information,” he elaborated.

In line with Harapan’s election manifesto, deputy minister in the PM’s Department Hanipa Maidin revealed last month that cabinet was in the midst of formulating a national Freedom of Information law.

Presently, only Selangor and Penang have Freedom of Information enactments.