KUALA LUMPUR – The federal government will not be releasing the details of the report by the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) special cabinet committee to the public, said Datuk Hanifah Taib.
The deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Sarawak and Sabah’s affairs said the decision to not make the report public was made on legal grounds, taking into account the sensitivity and technicality of its contents.
Hanifah, also the GPS MP for Mukah, said that the final report had been presented to the cabinet in December.
“The cabinet decided on January 15 that the special committee was to be dissolved after the objective of studying the MA63 had been achieved.
“The cabinet also agreed that the next step would be to implement the results achieved by the special committee, supervised by a special task force chaired by the prime minister,” Hanifah told the Dewan Rakyat today.
The policies to be implemented were decided on by the previous Pakatan Harapan government.
Hanifah was answering a question from Datuk Mohamad Azis Jamman (Warisan-Sepanggar) on whether the government intends to make the final MA63 report public.
Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri (GPS-Batang Sadong) told the Dewan that National Operations Council records held by the National Archives will not be made public either.
“While the National Operations Council records are held by the National Archives, the ownership of details in those records are under the National Security Council and the police,” said Nancy.
When Tan Kok Wai (PH-Cheras) pointed out that some of the records were over 25 years old, Nancy said the age of the documents was not a reason for reclassification.
“If the documents are classified as secret, they cannot be open to the public even though they are old. They are subject to security requirements based on protecting sovereignty, sensitive issues, and the personal information of individuals,” she said. – The Vibes, November 17, 2020
