Tol: OSA untuk lindungi apa?

Kenyataan Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Bendahari Agung dan Pengerusi Perhubungan Selangor, keADILan:

11 Januari 2007
Kenyataan Media

Dedahkan perjanjian konsesi lebuhraya demi kepentingan rakyat

Tindakan Barisan Nasional yang terus menafikan hak rakyat untuk mengetahui isi kandungan perjanjian konsesi lebuhraya di antara kerajaan dan syarikat-syarikat pengendali lebuhraya ialah petanda betapa BN tidak mempedulikan kepentingan dan masalah yang dihadapi rakyat.

BN (daripada petikan berita kenyataan Perdana Menteri Abdullah Badawi oleh STAR 10 Januari 2006) mencerminkan sikap mengutamakan bentuk mengatasi isi (form over substance) apabila bertegas mencari alasan bahawa perjanjian-perjanjian tersebut adalah rahsia di bawah Akta Rahsia Rasmi (OSA). Isu utamanya sekarang ialah kerajaan telah membuat kesilapan di dalam perundingan dengan syarikat-syarikat terlibat. Akibatnya rakyat menanggung penderitaan dengan membayar kadar tol yang terlalu tinggi.

Kesilapan kerajaan ini bukan sekadar ditunjukkan oleh parti-parti dan Pertubuhan Bukan Kerajaan malah bekas Perdana Menteri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad sendiri membuat pengakuan mengenai kecuaian kerajaan (di bawah kepemimpinannya) dalam melakukan rundingan tersebut.

Perdana Menteri Abdullah Badawi seharusnya mengambil peluang ini untuk memperbetulkan kesilapan dan mengatasi kecuaian pemerintahan BN. Beliau seharusnya menerima desakan rakyat yang mahu didedahkan isi kandungan perjanjian tersebut sebagai tindakan rakyat membantu beliau ke arah itu.

Beliau perlu mengdeklasifikasikan dokumen-dokumen tersebut daripada status rahsia. Tidak ada sebarang kewajaran untuk menjadikannya dokumen rahsia sedangkan sebelum ini beratus-ratus, malah mungkin beribu-ribu orang telah membacanya. Ini kerana dokumen perjanjian tersebut yang menjadi asas kepada syarikat-syarikat konsesi untuk memohon pinjaman bank. Justeru ia sebenarnya ialah dokumen awam yang telah ditatap oleh kakitangan bank, termasuk bank-bank asing. Malah pengendali-pengendali lebuhraya terlibat perlu memfailkan dokumen-dokumen yang sama dengan Suruhanjaya Sekuriti dan Bursa Kuala Lumpur apabila mereka melaksanakan proses mendapatkan dana daripada pasaran modal tempatan.

OSA itu sendiri ialah undang-undang ketinggalan zaman yang drakonian dan represif. Ia menyekat dan menafikan hak rakyat. Seringkali pemimpin BN menggunakannya untuk melindungi cara hidup rasuah dan korup mereka. Malaysia perlu bertindak memperkenalkan Akta Kebebasan Maklumat (Freedom of Information Act – FOIA) yang ternyata berkesan memerangi rasuah dan mempertahankan hak rakyat. Malah penggunaan akta ini di Britain telah mendedahkan amalan rasuah kerajaan BN di dalam skandal pembelian senjata dan bantuan untuk membina Empangan Pergau.

Negara-negara yang mempunyai peruntukan OSA sudah mula bertindak untuk mengembalikan hak rakyat kepada maklumat. Pelaksanaan FOIA di Britain ternyata berkesan, malah India telah bertindak meminda OSA pada tahun 2005.

Justeru keADILan menggesa Perdana Menteri Abdullah Badawi, pemimpin BN dan pegawai kerajaan yang bertanggungjawab melaksanakan amanah rakyat untuk tidak lagi berselindung di sebalik OSA dan mendedahkan perkara sebenar kepada rakyat. Mereka tidak seharusnya memusuhi rakyat dan melakukan tindakan-tindakan anti-rakyat sedangkan rakyat mahu membantu kerajaan memperbetulkan kesilapan.

Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim
Bendahari Agung


11 January 2007
Media Statement

Expose the toll concession agreement for the benefit of the Rakyat

The Barisan Nasional’s action to continue to deny the right of the people to know the content of the highway concession agreement between the government and the highway operators is a clear indication that BN has no interest about what is important for the people and the problems they are facing in life.

BN (based on Abdullah Badawi’s statement as reported by the Star on 10th January 2006) is more concerned about form over substance when they insist on finding reasons to defend that the agreements concerned are secrets under the Official Secrets Act (OSA). The main issue now is the government had committed a blunder in negotiations with the companies concerned. The people are now paying the price of this mistake in the form of high toll rates.

Not only the government’s mistake was pointed out by political parties and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) but also by none other than the former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad who admitted about the negligence of the government (under his leadership) in their conduct of those negotiations.

Abdullah Badawi should seize this opportunity to make right what is wrong and overcome the negligence of the BN led government. He should welcome the people’s demand that the content of the agreements be made public as an effort to help him towards that.

I implore on him to immediately declassify the documents from the official secrets status. There is no reason whatsoever to keep it as a secret when hundreds, perhaps thousands of people have read the documents. This is so since the agreements was the basis supporting the toll operators’ loan applications from banks. Thus, it is in fact a public document that has been read by banks staffs, including foreign ones. The toll operators would also have to file the documents with the relevant authorities such as the Securities Commission and the Bursa Kuala Lumpur if they raised capital from the local capital market.

The OSA itself is a draconian and repressive law that belongs only in history. It denies the people’s rights. Often BN leaders use it as protection and to cover up their corrupt lifestyle. Malaysia must act swiftly to introduce a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which has been proven effective in combating corruption and defending the people’s rights. The use of such law in Britain has exposed the BN corrupt practice in the case of the arms purchase deal in return for aid to build the Pergau Dam.

Countries which inherited the OSA have taken steps to restore the people’s right to information. The implementation of FOIA in Britain was truly effective and India has also amended the OSA in 2005.

keADILan urges that Abdullah Badawi, BN leaders and civil servants who are holding the responsibility to carry out the people’s trust to manage the country, to stop using the OSA as cover and expose the facts. They should not make the people as their enemy and do anti-people actions whereas the people sincerely wish to help the government to right the wrongs they have committed.


Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim
Treasurer