The government will only declassify those secret documents which it feels to be relevant in answering questions posed by ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad over the scrapping of the half-bridge project, said the de facto law minister today.

"We will declassify the documents accordingly to respond to the claims by Dr Mahathir. We still need the Official Secrets Act (OSA) as there are many things in the negotiations (with Singapore that) still need to be classified," said Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.

He said this at a press conference in the Parliament lobby this afternoon when asked why the government has only released extracts of the record of a meeting last year between Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

Nazri - who is the minister in the Prime Minister's Department - also said the OSA is still needed to protect official secrets despite the move to declassify certain documents, seen as an attempt to win over public opinion over the dispute between Mahathir and the government.

"It is the right of the government to decide when to declassify the documents," he said.

Last Friday, the government issued a five-page statement - containing excerpts of negotiations with Singapore - and announced it had declassified documents to "put the record straight on a string of allegations raised by the former prime minister".

The following day, the government released four letters between Mahathir and the two former Singaporean premiers written in 2002 which revealed details of the bilateral negotiations on issues such as the building of a new bridge to replace the causeway between the two countries.

However, the 'declassification' move has elicited criticism, especially from Mahathir's vocal ex-aide Matthias Chang, who described it as a " fraud on the public ". He argued that the classified documents released had been published by Singapore previously.

Chang urged the government to honour its promise to declassify all relevant documents.

Culprit not found

On a separate matter, Nazri said an internal investigation in Parliament has not determined who was behind the circulation of three flyers linked to former Malaysia Airlines chief Tajudin Ramli in the Dewan Rakyat last week.

He said a check with closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage did not find the perpetrator.

"The case is closed. How to take action? You want me to take action against a ghost?" Nazri asked.

The flyers, purportedly from individuals linked to Tajudin, were received by at least two Barisan Nasional backbenchers last week, although none of the frontbenchers or opposition parliamentarians received them.

The flyers, detailed Tajudin's 'predicament' over the bailout and buyback scandal surrounding the national carrier, and portrayed the business tycoon as a victim in the MAS saga.

Nazri also commented on a remark by Parliamentary Secretary in the Prime Minister's Department Mashitah Ibrahim, that "Malaysia is a secular country" was the personal view of three ex-premiers - Tunku Abdul Rahman, Abdul Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn.

Responding, Nazri said this was up to personal interpretation as everyone has a different yardstick to conclude whether Malaysia is a secular or Islamic country.

For instance, Nazri said Malaysia is a member of the Organisation of Islamic Countries and the Federal Constitution states Islam as the official religion of the country. However, the country has also adopted secular laws .