Shadow Policy Committee

It's a bold step forward towards freedom of speech. In an unprecedented move, the Penang government will launch a "Speaker's Square" at the Esplanade for the public to air their views. The square will be located at the Millennium Square concrete stage near the seafront. It is expected to draw social activists and members of non-governmental organisations to take the limelight and speak their mind. Penang Local government and Traffic Management Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the public would be allowed to speak whatever they hold to be important every Wednesday and Sunday from 6pm to 9pm from May 9. “It is for spontaneous demonstration of free speech as anyone can turn up unannounced and talk. Of course, you will have to wait until the person on the stage has finished before you go up to talk," said Chow. “There will be no PA system. So, those who wish to speak will have to bring their own equipment,” Chow told the press . “Although our aim is ...

Penang is waiting to see if Selangor is successful in enacting the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) as its own state legal adviser has hampered it, saying it is “unconstitutional”. Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng (picture) today repeated his call for freedom of information to mark World Press Freedom Day tomorrow. “In Penang, the state legal adviser has objected to the Penang state government’s intention to enact a FOI on the grounds that it is unconstitutional,” he said in a statement. He said the legal adviser’s opinion is that information is under the federal list of the federal Constitution and not within the jurisdiction of the state government. “The state government is closely following the efforts by the Selangor state government to enact the FOI and should this be successful will then enact a similar law in the Penang State Assembly,” he said. Lim lamented that DAP as well as other interested parties had long called for the abolis...