Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang wants to know why Works Minister S Samy Vellu is so vindictive towards the four opposition leaders who were recently summoned for revealing secret documents.

"Why (is he) so bloodthirsty as to want (them) jailed for at least a year under OSA (Official Secrets Act)?" he said in a statement today.

Lim was responding to Samy's statement yesterday that those responsible for revealing the agreement signed between the government and the concessionaire of the Damansara-Puchong Expressway had to "pay for it".

The four involved - DAP NGO bureau head Ronnie Liu, PAS treasurer Dr Hatta Ramli, PKR treasurer Khalid Ibrahim and information chief Tian Chua have been summoned to the Bukit Aman police headquarters on Monday

Earlier this month, the quartet showed reporters a copy of a document pertaining to the agreement signed between the government and the concessionaire of the Damansara-Puchong Expressway.

The opposition argued that the 200-page secret document showed the government had guaranteed profits to concessionaires at the expense of road users.

Following this, Samy suggested to the cabinet that the attorney-general take action against those responsible for 'stealing and exhibiting' the toll concession agreements.

Those found guilty of violating the OSA are liable to a mandatory jail sentence of at least one year.

'What have they done wrong?'

The Ipoh Timur MP quizzed as to what the four leader did to warrant being treated like 'highway robbers'.

"What have the four done that they must be treated like "highway robbers" and made to suffer the most severe form of punitive punishment?

"Have they done anything akin to sabotage or imperil the national economy, subvert the national security or undermine national stability?" he asked.

The DAP veteran also accused Samy of usurping the powers of the Attorney-General.

He then urged Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his cabinet to take a stand that the government will not impose OSA's mandatory sentencing on the four opposition leaders.

"Abdullah and the cabinet must take a consistent and honourable stand that the government will not invoke the OSA with its minimum mandatory one-year jail sentence for any conviction unless and until such a repressive and repugnant provision is repealed."

If the four are found guilty, Lim warned, "it will not be Khalid, Tian Chua, Ronnie and Hatta on trial but Samy Vellu, Abdullah and the entire Cabinet."