Putrajaya finds OSA effective but some tweaks necessary, minister says

KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 — The government finds the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 generally effective in plugging information leaks but needs to enhance the law to keep up with developments in technology, minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said.

Azalina noted that eight individuals have already been convicted under OSA or Act 88, while two individuals are currently facing trial in the Kuala Kangsar Sessions Court.

“Generally, the government is of the view that this Act 88 is effective in curbing leaks of government information.

“However, following developments in current technology that facilitate the spread of information through social media, several provisions in this Act 88 has to be improved to increase the efficacy of enforcement,” the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said in a written parliamentary reply, referring to the OSA.

Azalina also disclosed that the government’s study on OSA amendments takes into account current cyber threats and technology development.

The government is also mulling the suitability of existing punishments under OSA, in accordance with the Attorney-General’s proposal regarding the offence of leaking government secrets, the minister added.

Azalina said the Chief Government Security Officer’s (CGSO) office has already taken several steps to curb the leak of government information, including through education and awareness programmes with 158 courses and 94 briefings given to civil servants in 2015.

The CGSO has also provided a framework to curb leakage of government information in the short and long term, as well as drafted a policy using technology to detect and protect the civil service’s electronically-stored information, she said.

On February 6, Chinese-language paper Sin Chew Daily reported Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali saying he is mulling a review of the OSA to increase the penalties against those who leak official secrets, with the punishments to possibly include life imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane.  

Apandi said the OSA will also be used against reporters that refuse to disclose the source of the leaked information, adding the Federal Constitution does not cover a right to know.              

The current penalty under the OSA is a minimum one-year jail term stretching to a maximum seven-year jail term.