It is truly ironic for Dr M to say that the government should not use the Official Secrets Act to hide untruths, says a reader.

On Don't hide behind OSA, Mahathir tells gov't

HL Too: It is truly ironic for Dr M to say that the government should not use the Official Secrets Act to hide untruths. It was Dr M that introduced the Official Secrets Act. At that time, opposition politicians and other government critics have warned that this act will be used to protect corrupt politicians and cover up government misdeeds.

Until Dr M introduced the OSA, the government had one ace up its sleeve. That is the ISA. With the OSA, the government now has two aces up its sleeves - the ISA and the OSA. Dr M who likes to quote Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, should remember that the "evil that man do lives after them". The OSA is but one of the many "evils" introduced by Dr M that will take on a life of its own and "live" long after he is gone.

Dr M may find it hard to understand why the newspapers refuse to publish his comments in full whereas comments to "demonise" him is given full play. Again, this should not be difficult to understand. Dr M used one of the English dailies in his row with Anwar Ibrahim to such an extent that the once popular English daily has lost all credibility and consequently its readership.

It is another irony that this same newspaper would publish a letter criticising Dr M. Again, Old Willy Shakespeare has a quotation for this when he said, "A dog's obey'd in office (King Lear IV.vi. 158).

Soo Lee Mai: It is most amusing to watch how Umno leadership is struggling to cope with recent allegations made by Tun Mahathir. First, if not for the relentless effort of alternative media to raise public curiosity, the questions raised by Tun would have never seen the light of day.

Now that the preferred option of ignoring the issue is no longer possible, the current administration went on to bombard the public with partial and totally irrelevant information, hoping against all hope, that Malaysians will in the end live up to their 'tak apa' or 'Melayu mudah lupa' mentality.

Meanwhile, the Tun was to be silenced by self-appointed muscle men that raised questions ranging from his motives to his manhood at the same time questioning his proven track-record. But the Tun cannot be silenced and the public still wants answers. More importantly, the swelling support behind the Tun especially in Umno tells the current administration that a real storm is brewing.

Joe Public: "Do what I tell you to do, don't do like what I did" seems apt to describe Dr Mahathir's current behaviour.

When he was in power, he used ISA, OSA, the police, the judiciary and whatever was necessary to remain in power. Now that he is no longer holding the PM's post, he expects his successor to be more open! How convenient indeed!

He demands that his questions be answered to his satisfaction, yet there are probably hundreds of our questions, which remained conveniently unanswered. If the present government should not be hiding behind OSA, then there are many government deals which are past their due dates for disclosure, as practiced in other countries.

The North-South Expressway contract comes to mind like a dark cloud that refused to move away. We are still paying for the lop-sided agreement, which is simply "heads you win, tail we lose" and which only benefits the concessionaire.

The only silver lining out of this spat is that Dr Mahathir is on our side demanding more transparency and it is better late than never. For this, Tun, we thank you!

HJ Angus: The government should go one step further on the OSA. Instead of just pandering to just one person's agenda, we should have a complete review of the OSA like:

  1. Making most government information available to the public say after 10 years.

  • Reduce the number of documents and dealings that come under the OSA and subject these to a parliamentary committee.

  • This parliamentary committee will also decide which documents cannot be released for security reasons.

  • Security reasons do not include events where the government was involved in shady and unlawful deeds.

    • HL Too: What Dr M probably does not realise when he complained about the lack of "openness" to contrarian opinions within the government, is that he is in fact saying precisely what his critics have been saying during the Mahathir administration. And why should he be surprised that according to our daily newspapers that it would seemed that nobody agrees with him? Anwar Ibrahim had the same complaint.

    As for the "half past six" government, perhaps somebody should point out to him that the present cabinet were members of his cabinet when he was prime minister. And if they only know how to "sokong", guess who taught them that they must always "sokong" the PM?

    On SPECIAL REPORT: Sabah's Project M

    Joshua Kong: Are you not fed up with the tussle between the ex-PM and the present PM? This seems to be a problem arising from a private/secret deal during the switch in power. So what are the deals? They should now be exposed.

    It is understood that Datuk Abdullah Badawi had violated the secret deal over succession after taking over the prime ministership. That's according to Tun Dr Mahathir.

    What had Pak Lah done to that deal? Does that include anything to do with Project M or Project IC? Can someone lodge an urgent police report to ask that the secret deal be revealed?