OSA undermines Whistleblower Protection Act, says Abim

PETALING JAYA: The latest statement by Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar regarding the arrest of PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli shows the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA) is given greater importance over the protection of whistleblowers, the Muslim Youth Movement Malaysia (Abim) said today.

“This reflects the OSA 1972 as paramount and it prevails over other statutes, including legislation concerning the protection of the whistleblowers,” Abim president Mohamad Raimi Ab Rahim said in a statement today.

Slamming the OSA as a tool to prevent dissidents from accessing information pertaining to government misconduct, he dismissed the Act as utterly irrelevant.

“Major transformation has to be made to reform the legislation.”

Raimi said the OSA’s legal definition was not precise as regulations could be imposed on any documents.

“Instead of putting limits only on the documents that would pose a serious and demonstrable risk to national security, the act stipulates a general term, reflecting that any document can be classified as secret,” he said.

Jingga 13 chief coordinator Fariz Musa echoed Raimi’s sentiments, and said that if it took 15 police officers to arrest Rafizi, that only proved the information the PKR lawmaker had exposed was indeed true.

“The move by the police is not only seen as protecting crooks but undermining the credibility and integrity of the police as a respected, transparent and professional institution,” he said in a statement.

Fariz alleged Rafizi was arrested so he could be charged under the OSA 1972 before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) could table its findings on 1Malaysia Development Berhad in Parliament.

He also claimed the police reports lodged against the lawmaker pertained to documents that Rafizi had exposed, and which were not classified as official secrets.

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