KOTA BELUD: The proposal to review the penalty under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 proves that the leaking of Government secrets is becoming more serious, says Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak (pic).

Salleh added that the decision of Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali to amend the Act proved that the Government was serious in addressing the problem.

“We are responsible to determine that the trust given to us should be kept well because such acts (leaking of Government secrets) can jeopardise national security,” he told reporters when commenting on the A-G’s proposal.

Recently, a Chinese daily quoted Mohamed Apandi as saying that he was considering amending the punishment for those involved in leaking national secrets and those reporting news of those secrets.

The A-G was reported as saying that he was looking at the possibility of imposing life-imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane on offenders.

Mohamed Apandi was also reported as saying that journalists found to be protecting or refusing to disclose their sources of information could also be found guilty.

Salleh, who also agreed with the opinion of the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi that no one should politicise the A-G’s proposal, said the Government would welcome and hear the views of various groups before making any official decision.

Commenting on the suggestion that action be taken on media practitioners if they protected or refused to disclose their sources, Salleh said every journalist in the country must be responsible in reporting news and they should not assume that they would not be made to disclose their sources on the grounds of preserving journalism ethics.

“Sometimes (the news) is leaked from Government information and (the leaking of information) is an offence. If (journalists) report news that is wrong in terms of law, then (indirectly) we are involved in committing the offence,” he said. – Bernama