Did former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad breach the Official Secrets Act (OSA) by divulging correspondence between Malaysia and Singapore over the scrapped half-bridge project?

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) posed this question to embattled Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar in the Dewan Rakyat today, who promptly dodged a reply.

Citing Mahathir's open letter posted on a pro-Umno website recently, Lim proposed that documents relating to the negotiations should be declassified.

"Will action be taken against Tun Mahathir or will Wisma Putra declassify all documents to let the public know?...nab, charge and imprison him (Mahathir)?" he asked during the ministerial winding-up on the debate on the 9th Malaysia Plan.

Syed Hamid did not respond directly, but instead took Lim to task.

"From the start, I knew you had malicious intent. I don't think Tun Mahathir had any (such) intentions (when he raised the issue). It's an opinion. We just have different opinions. You have always been against the OSA, but now you want to use the OSA...?"

He said the former premier has made many contributions to the country and that parliamentarians should not make an issue of his views.

"(Don't) try to attack someone who is no longer a parliamentarian and who is unable to rebut your allegations here," he said.

No referendum

Earlier, Syed Hamid said he would not take personal responsibility for the matter because the decision was made by the government and was not an individual decision.

"This is not a personal decision of any cabinet member, but a decision of the government. So whether a person is responsible or not should not arise," he said, adding that even Singapore understood and respected Malaysia's decision.

On a related matter, Syed Hamid brushed aside the possibility of holding a referendum to decide whether the project should be implemented.

"There is no tradition or system to hold a referendum. We can implement it through parliamentary democracy. (We) don't need to have any referendum," he said.

Irked by the government's decision to scrap the project, Mahathir had called for a referendum since the government had said the decision was in response to public requests and views.

Syed Hamid reiterated that the decision was made in the interests of Malaysians: "This was a very brave decision although it was difficult. It was a brave (decision)."

Last week, Mahathir's former political secretary Matthias Chang had openly called on Syed Hamid to resign for wrongly advising Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi over the project.