KUALA LUMPUR: The Cabinet Special Committee Meeting on National Governance has agreed in principle to draft the Freedom of Information Act while also amending the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972.
In a statement today, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said the committee agreed that there had to be clear parameters and guidelines to provide public access to information from public and government bodies while drafting the said Act.
It also said that in line with this decision, the OSA would be amended accordingly.
"This step is taken to ensure the enhancement of public service delivery and to encourage citizens' participation in the policy-making process."
Chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the committee also agreed to draft the Government Procurement Bill to strengthen the legal framework for government procurement, aiming to enhance accountability for those involved in government procurement.
"The government takes the issue of national revenue leakage seriously, especially concerning government procurement. In this regard, the meeting agreed to draft the Government Procurement Bill.
"The meeting also agreed to incorporate transparency principles into the Government Procurement Bill, which will be formulated by establishing a mechanism for complaints and objections in line with international standards," it said.
The meeting also takes serious attention to the 18 resolutions from the two National Level Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Research Conference sessions in 2022 and 2023, which presented recommendations for improvement from a legal and policy perspective related to governance, integrity and anti-corruption.
The resolutions will be included in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) development, it said.
Meanwhile, the committee also agreed that the existing and new legal framework should be examined towards good governance among entities with the government's interests.
To ensure that the subsidiaries established under the Statutory Body are administered more professionally based on the principles of good governance, one must give attention to the supervision aspect, it said.
"The government will continue its efforts to strengthen governance in order to support the nation's development in line with the aspiration to build Malaysia Madani.