CEP 100-day report is a secret document

KUALA LUMPUR: The Council of the Eminent Persons’ (CEP) 100-day report will not be made public, says Mohamed Hanipa Maidin.

The Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said the report has been classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

“It was submitted to the Prime Minister and the government has no intention to make the findings public,” he said in reply to a supplementary question from Wong Kah Woh during Question Time in Parliament yesterday.

The Ipoh Timur MP had asked whether the findings of the CEP report would be released and allow it to be debated in public.

Mohamed Hanipa said the report needed to be protected, saying “many countries also needed it”.

“Maybe, some will ask why we classified it under OSA but many other countries also needed it.

“Previously, we are not totally against OSA but we are angry over rampant corruption, power abuse and injustice.

“When some people raise issues involving corruption, power abuse and injustice, they were arrested and charged under OSA.

“But now, we want to protect confidentiality and sensitive information. This is the difference between us and the previous government,” he said.

Many politicians and civil society groups such as G25 group of eminent Malays and electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 had asked the report to be made public.

In August, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said CEP’s role was to investigate and inform him of its findings and that the report might not be made public.

Mohamed Hanipa said the CEP had set up special teams to look into several issues, including mega projects such as the East Coast Rail Link.

“Aside from that, the Institutional Reforms Committee, which was suggested by the CEP, was among the government’s commitment to restore public confidence in key public institutions,” he said.