Freedom of Information
Draft Law Rejected
by: Kaing Menghun and Colin Meyn
Published on January 27, 2013
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The National Assembly of Cambodia has once again rejected a draft law on the freedom of information (FOI), which is the second time in three years that the government has rejected a law that compels them to provide information on matters of public concern. Included in the law would be that the government having to declassify documents within 25 years of their drafting. However, the government thought it could create an unnecessary financial strain upon them because they would have to create a judicial body to oversee other branches. There was a FOI law that was passed in 2007 that many refer to and think is a better building block to create a new law or amend the old law, but the law does not have any punishment for public officials that withhold information.
I believe that these FOI laws are unconstitutional because they require government officials to basically release possibly very important and costly information about themselves or the government actions. This could cause a drop in government security and the officials might self-incriminate themselves. The cost of establishing such a new law would also raise taxes upon its citizens; for the cost of government knowledge, I do not think it is worth it. I believe the people should be allowed to know some things about what their government is doing; therefore, there should be a law but that requires officials to disclose certain information that is not damaging to themselves or the country and they should not have to face an overwhelming punishment if they choose to not disclose their knowledge.
The FOI laws deal with government officials directly. The politics of the law, to some, seem unconstitutional because of a couple reasons like it will raise taxes to cover the new judicial body that has to be made or that it requires some officials to release certain information to the public. It also deals with possible corruption within Cambodia's political structure in that certain public officials can get away with not disclosing information to the public; the public could than get outraged at the government because they are being kept in the dark about what is happening.
Published on January 27, 2013
Click here to read this article!
The National Assembly of Cambodia has once again rejected a draft law on the freedom of information (FOI), which is the second time in three years that the government has rejected a law that compels them to provide information on matters of public concern. Included in the law would be that the government having to declassify documents within 25 years of their drafting. However, the government thought it could create an unnecessary financial strain upon them because they would have to create a judicial body to oversee other branches. There was a FOI law that was passed in 2007 that many refer to and think is a better building block to create a new law or amend the old law, but the law does not have any punishment for public officials that withhold information.
I believe that these FOI laws are unconstitutional because they require government officials to basically release possibly very important and costly information about themselves or the government actions. This could cause a drop in government security and the officials might self-incriminate themselves. The cost of establishing such a new law would also raise taxes upon its citizens; for the cost of government knowledge, I do not think it is worth it. I believe the people should be allowed to know some things about what their government is doing; therefore, there should be a law but that requires officials to disclose certain information that is not damaging to themselves or the country and they should not have to face an overwhelming punishment if they choose to not disclose their knowledge.
The FOI laws deal with government officials directly. The politics of the law, to some, seem unconstitutional because of a couple reasons like it will raise taxes to cover the new judicial body that has to be made or that it requires some officials to release certain information to the public. It also deals with possible corruption within Cambodia's political structure in that certain public officials can get away with not disclosing information to the public; the public could than get outraged at the government because they are being kept in the dark about what is happening.