Another Brick in the Wall
Note: Lim Kit Siang told a forum on the 17th of August 2017 that he was committed to work towards the repeal of the OSA and fight for its inclusion in the PH manifesto.
RJ Rithaudeen
The CEP report was promised to be made public by Tun Daim when the CEP was formed. By the time it was completed, Daim passed the buck to Mahathir.
Lim Kit Siang insisted on the CEP report made to the Prime Minister be made public. His DAP underlings, Deputy Minister Simon Simm, repeated the same request. PKR MP Abdullah Sani requested its disclosure.
From Mahathir’s refusal to make it public to the announcement to place it under the OSA raises suspicion that Mahathir and Daim are up to no good.
Council of Eminent Persons’ 100-day report placed under OSA
NATION
Thursday, 28 Mar 2019 12:44 PM MYT
By Martin Carvalho, Hemananthani Sivanandam, Rahimy Rahim, and Tarrence Tan
KUALA LUMPUR: The government has no intention of making the findings of the Council of Eminent Persons’ (CEP) 100-day report public and has, in fact, placed it under the Official Secret Act (OSA), Parliament heard on Thursday (March 28).
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohamed Hanipa Maidin said the report was currently protected under OSA.
“At the moment, it has only been submitted to the Prime Minister, and the government has no intention to make the findings public,” he said in reply to a supplementary question from Wong Kah Woh, Pakatan’s MP for Ipoh Timur, during Question Time.
Wong had asked the government whether it had any intention of releasing the CEP report findings, and to allow it to be debated in public.
Mohamed Hanipa explained that the report needed to be protected, saying that “many countries also needed it.”
“Maybe some will ask why we classified it under OSA, but many other countries also needed it.
Previously, we were not totally against the OSA, but we were angry at the abuse, protecting corruption, power abuse and injustices under OSA.
“When some people raise issues involving corruption, power abuse and injustice, they were detained and charged in court under OSA.
“But now, we really want to protect the problems or confidential and sensitive information. This is the difference between us and the previous government,” he said.
Many politicians and civil society groups, such as the G25 group of eminent Malays and electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0, have asked for the report to be made public.
In August, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said CEP’s role was to investigate and inform him of their findings, and that the report might not be made public.
Mohamed Hanipa said the CEP had previously set up special teams to look into several issues, including megaprojects such as the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project.
“Aside from that the Institutional Reforms Committee (IRC), which was suggested by the CEP, were among the government’s commitment to restore public confidence towards key public institutions,” he said.
To the question of whether the government had any intention to appoint former CEP members as mentors of ministries, Mohamed Hanipa said no decisions had been made by the government.
“This is because, Insya-Allah, we are learning very fast. I would also congratulate the opposition for quickly learning the ropes of becoming an effective opposition,” he said.
From the report, Hanipa Maidin seemed to be defensive, and his compliments of the opposition indicate he is not toocomfortable with the decision too.
The CEP report is believed to be the “guiding principle” for cabinet members to put together policies.
With characters like Daim’s brother-in-law, Dr Muhammad Khalid, seen repeatedly with Endie Shazli Dato Akbar Ali and Faris Rabidin in various supporting roles for Daim and Mahathir (at the PMO, the CEP and also the NEAC 2.0), the actions of the NEAC 2.0 will likely be along CEP report.
The CEP report will affect the social, economic and political life of all Malaysians and the future of the country.
There is no reason for Mahathir and Daim to want to escape public scrutiny. Unless, of course, the duo has something to hide with relation to their truest intentions.
It is worrisome that the leading players of CEP are businessmen and corporate businessmen that could easily out-manouvre the macro thinking central banker and economists.
They will gainfully take advantage of the business opportunity out of the policies and actions they crafted. For instance, Robert Kuok was recently given the “monopoly” on export of Malaysian oil palm to China.
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