Independent Police Nude-Squat  Inquiry Commission Report should be made public on Jan 16 simultaneously it is submitted to the Yang di Pertuan Agong as is the practice in first-world countries to demonstrate a new government commitment to accountability,  transparency and good governance

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Media Statement (2)
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Friday): The Independent Police Nude-Squat  Inquiry Commission Report should be made public on January 16  simultaneously it is submitted to the Yang di Pertuan Agong as is the practice in first-world countries to demonstrate a new government commitment to accountability,  transparency and good governance.

It is disturbing that little  progress has been made towards eradicating the “First-World Infrastructure, Third-World Mentality” Malaysian malaise which the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi had been calling for the past three years, and one area rampant with the “First-World Infrastructure, Third-World Mentality” disease concerns the  national information policy.

Is the Prime Minister prepared to initiate the government into a “First-World Infrastructure, First-World Mentality” mode starting with accepting the new principle in an information and knowledge society that information is regarded as the right of the people and not as the property of the government, and that it  should be made freely and instantly available to the public unless there are  national security or personal privacy considerations.

Both these reasons cannot apply with regard to the Independent Police Nude Squat Inquiry Commission Report, and this is why Malaysia should demonstrate that it is prepared and able to emulate the best  practice of first-world nations where reports of inquiry commissions are made instantly and freely available to the public at the same time they are submitted to the appointing authorities, whether head of government or state.

The Commission Chairman Tun Mohmaed Dzaiddin Abdullah was reported in the New Straits Times yesterday as saying that the commission will present its report to the Yang di Pertuan Agong on Jan. 16, and after that to the Prime Minister, and that it will be up to the Prime Minister whether to make the report public.

Abdullah should make it clear to the Commission that his government is committed to the “First-World Infrastructure, First-World Mentality” concept  and that the commission  should make  public its report simultaneously it is submitted to the Yang di Pertuan Agong.

(06/01/2006)