PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s proposed Freedom of Information Bill 2026 is among the world’s weakest right-to-information (RTI) laws, according to an international rights watchdog which said it would place the country in the bottom 10 globally if enacted in its current form.
The Centre of Law and Democracy (CLD), a Canada-based non-profit that assesses transparency legislation globally, said the bill scored 47 of 150 total points on its RTI rating.
It said the score would rank Malaysia 137th out of 142 countries assessed, tied with the Philippines and well behind Indonesia, which scored 100 points.
“It is immediately obvious that the RTI bill represents an extremely weak legislative effort,” CLD said in its analysis released on Aug 12.
The group’s sharpest criticism was directed at the bill’s requesting procedures, which it said was “normally an easy area to do well”.
CLD said that under the bill, applicants would have to state a reason for making a request, while access would be limited to four purposes: correcting personal information, non-commercial research or education, media reporting and addressing a “prejudicial act” by a public authority.
“In other words, for the majority of ordinary Malaysians, this law is available only to address prejudicial acts by public authorities. This is a truly massive limitation which is simply unknown in other RTI laws,” it said.
CLD also criticised the criminal penalties of up to five years’ jail for misusing or disclosing information obtained under the bill.
It said the bill’s broad secrecy provision could even prevent ministers from discussing matters concerning their own ministries.
The group also raised concerns over the bill’s proposed oversight mechanism, which relies on an Ombudsman whose enabling legislation has yet to be tabled. CLD said the proposed Section 15 appeared to limit the ombudsman’s investigative powers in information appeals, including the ability to review confidential documents and compel witnesses.
The Ombudsman is intended to be established as an independent federal body to handle complaints and investigate alleged maladministration, but the proposed Ombudsman Bill has yet to be tabled in Parliament.
As such, the CLD recommended the requirement for applications to state a purpose, adding a public interest override, capping extensions to response deadlines and establishing a dedicated, independent oversight body.
It also called for the proposed Ombudsman Act to give the ombudsman adequate powers to handle information appeals.
“Absent (sans) this, in many, perhaps most cases, public authorities will simply ignore the recommendations of the oversight body, rendering them essentially irrelevant,” it said.
The FOI Bill is Malaysia’s first attempt at a federal freedom of information law. Only Selangor and Penang have enacted similar legislation at the state level, in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
The bill has been referred to a parliamentary select committee for detailed examination.
