Selangor passes clause to reveal all agreements

The disclosure of any agreement will become automatic, says State Assembly Speaker.

SHAH ALAM: A clause will be included in all future Selangor government agreements, contracts and Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with third parties requiring the contents to be disclosed if public interest is involved.

Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency (Selcat) chairman Hannah Yeoh said with the new clause there would be no need to ask a third party each time a disclosure application was received.

“The disclosure of any agreement between the state government and third parties will become automatic,” The Star Online quoted Yeoh as saying during a break in the state assembly sitting.

The information disclosure recommendation by Selcat under the Freedom of Information Enactment 2010 was approved by the assembly yesterday.

The State Assembly Speaker cited the state government’s dilemma in disclosing information to the public regarding the water restructuring deal with the Federal Government.

“There were applications to view the contents of the water restructuring MoU and we informed the Federal Government, which is the third party here. However, the application was rejected,’’ she said.

Selcat member Xavier Jayakumar said anyone applying for information disclosure must have the locus standi (legal standing) to do so.

“If any application is not relevant to the applicant, it will be rejected,” he added.

Jayakumar, who is also the Seri Andalas assemblyman, said if an application was approved, the state executive council meeting would then declassify the document for it to be made public without the third party’s permission.

Yeoh noted that public awareness on the Freedom of Information Enactment was low, as there were only 164 applications for disclosure on state documents since 2011.

“We will give more training to the information officers as it is important to be able to filter the applications,” she added.

With the recommendation passed, she said it was now up to the state government to implement it.