RAFIZI’S CRITICISM OF A-G SHOWS HE IS DESPERATE FOR SUPPORT, SAYS AZALINA

(The Star) – PKR’s Rafizi Ramli’s criticism of the Attorney-General’s Chambers over a proposal to impose stiffer penalties for leaking official secrets shows that he is desperate for support, says Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (pic).

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said this was because the Pandan MP is already mired in a court case involving the leaking of confidential information under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (Bafia).

She said Rafizi has no immunity or privileges in the context of law, adding that his criticism against the Attorney-General only opened a can of worms.

“This shows that he is scared and desperate so much so that he wants to launch his own campaign against on social media,” she said in a statement, Monday.

Azalina also accused Rafizi of deliberately describing the move as oppressive to media freedom, just to win support of media practitioners.

“As a lawmaker, he could just debate this matter if it’s brought to Parliament,” she said.

On Saturday, Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali said he was considering the move as there were increasing cases of official secrets being leaked.

He said the Chambers was looking into amending the Official Secrets Act 1972 to punish those who leak official secrets, including civil servants, the public and media practitioners who refused to disclose their sources.

He said the punishment includes the possibility of life imprisonment and 10 strokes of the rotan.

Supporting this, Azalina said Rafizi should be punished severely for his tendencies to obtain confidential information and leak it to the public.

“Rafizi has always been seen as seeking political publicity by leaking official secrets to mislead the public.

“He even told Parliament that he had received leaked information on Government assets purchases.

“It is only appropriate for him to be investigated for this and action be taken against him,” she said.

Rafizi had reportedly described Apandi’s proposal as an attempt to cover up any future exposes’ on wrongdoing or corruption.

In August 2012, the PKR vice-president was charged with revealing four Public Bank customer profile documents to unauthorised individuals under Bafia.