Open by default

The Star

02-08-2025

WHEN the explosion and fire shook a residential area in Putra Heights, Selangor, in early April this year, residents were left not just with anxiety and trauma but also with lingering doubts.
Even after the investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Department – which was made public in June – revealed that ground instability was what led to the gas pipeline explosion, and the police subsequently classified the case as 'No Further Action', residents continue to grapple with unresolved questions, calling on the government to provide them with answers.
Why did the explosion happen only there? What about the construction of shop lots near the pipeline's location? And why is it so difficult to access such information?
Incidents like this reveal a deeper truth that access to information is not just a tool for journalists or watchdogs – it can affect the lives of everyday Malaysians too. This is one reason why advocates say it is important the government keeps its promise to table a Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill in Parliament soon.
FOI supporters say the law could empower citizens in ways that extend far beyond politics and media; from holding the government accountable for safety and land use decisions, to improving services through smarter, more transparent data sharing.
Changing the mindset
Lawyer and former Selangor Bar chairman Kokila Vaani Vadiveloo says a federal FOI law would benefit ordinary citizens seeking information about government activities that directly affect them, including issues of environmental hazards, land use, and healthcare policies.
She cites the example of a notable judgment in 2023 involving a High Court order that required the government to release an accident investigation report about a plane crash that killed 11 people almost half a century ago in 1976.
'This case illustrated how families struggled to access information without FOI provisions,' she says.
But beyond that, she says it could also help so many segments of society, such as students and researchers wanting to carry out evidence-based analysis, small business owners who may need to investigate regulations and obtain contract information, or legal professionals looking to gain evidence or background for court cases.
Kokila says in South Africa, for example, environmental groups and minority shareholders have used FOI laws to obtain critical information on corporate projects affecting their interests.
'FOI is recognised as a consumer right to enable informed choices,' Kokila says.
State and culture
The Malaysian public has a right to know how the government conducts activities that shape daily lives, stresses senior manager (research) for the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), Alissa Rode.
Because of the lack of an FOI law, she says only seven out of the 13 states and territories published their annual budget estimates online as of 2024.
'Expenditure information should be considered critical information that is proactively disclosed, but failing that, a minimal right to information would enable citizens to obtain this information,' she says.
This also shows that it is important for an FOI law to be adopted by all states, not just at the federal level, she adds, as state governments also possess data that is important to the average citizen.
Sinar Project coordinator Khairil Yusof points out that two states – Penang and Selangor – already have FOI laws at the state level.
From their interactions with the two state governments, he says the implementation of an FOI law creates not only a legal change, but also a change in culture within the government from being the gatekeeper of information to an 'open by default' approach.
'The cultural change is the under-standing that government information and knowledge resources are publicly funded and that they should be freely available and accessible to the public.
'It also creates an enabling environment for government agencies to proactively share public information and data, not just with the public but also between government agencies,' says Khairil.
In practice, existing laws and bureau-cracy often hinder this as government officials are prevented from sharing information with the public.
There is a provision in the Penal Code, Section 203A, which Khairil describes as being 'very vague', that discourages civil servants from sharing information. Section 203A states that it is a crime for civil servants to disclose any information obtained by them in the performance of their duties under any written law.
'So often, even if the information requested is not secret, it requires a lot of additional work for both parties to share that information.
'For example, the cleanliness of rivers that the officer already had on their computer.'
Indirect beneficiary
Another main obstacle to information access in Malaysia is the Official Secrets Act (OSA), as Rode points out.
The OSA makes all information confidential by default.
'Without an FOI law, a citizen seeking information would commonly get shunted around the bureaucracy looking for a sympathetic and empowered officer, as there is no obligation on the part of public officials to meet the request or even reveal who is responsible for that data.
'Even if the department in question is willing to provide the data, requests are often deprioritised,' she says.
Kokila adds that without FOI protections, any whistleblower disclosing public interest information becomes at risk of prosecution and their disclosures often end up being suppressed by secrecy laws.
Thus, Rode says, although an FOI law should at minimum mandate passive disclosure – that is, information is provided upon request – countries with the highest standards of transparency would go one step further and embrace active disclosure and an 'open by default' approach to information.
'Ideally, the upcoming FOI law should set up the expectation that critical information is made available online by default. Exceptions can still be made for security and privacy purposes, but such exceptions should be narrowly defined,' she says.
Is there hope?
Khairil says there are already examples in Malaysia of a more 'open by default' approach to data collected by the government, such as the Health Ministry's Covid-Now dashboard, the Department of Statistics's OpenDOSM portal, and the Public Sector Open Data initiatives.
The results of such initiatives have shown that beyond governance and rights issues, an FOI law also immediately paves the way for an open government and unlocks the full value of the work done by the civil service by making public information open by default.
'It enables rapid digital transformation innovations not only for the governments, but for everyone,' says Khairil.
But usually, the general public is an indirect beneficiary of access to information, mostly without realising it, he says, providing what he calls a relatable example:
Local councils like the Petaling Jaya City Council and the Subang Jaya City Council do spot checks and grade restaurant cleanliness; the rating is displayed on the inspected premises.
'If this dataset were publicly available, then companies like Google, FoodPanda, or Grab could incorporate these grades in their apps.'
To drive home the point of how much the people take the indirect benefits of open data for granted, Khairil points to a global example; the GPS system used worldwide is only possible because the United States government made it public.
'Imagine a world where only limited people could have access to GPS navigation.'