“I have no doubt that the nation has suffered more from undue secrecy than from undue disclosure. The government takes good care of itself."

- Daniel Schorr

COMMENT | It is frustrating that the police are questioning the health news portal CodeBlue's editor-in-chief for reporting on the Sultanah Aminah Hospital fire in 2016 that killed six patients, which was classified as an official state secret at the time.

What's so frustrating about the interrogation of Boo Su-Lyn (above) is that this is an instance where the system worked, but the political apparatus is failing us. The fact that there was “confusion” over what exact laws she broke further highlights the capriciousness of the “investigation”.

Now, it has been reported that former Court of Appeal judge Mohd Hishamudin Yunus, who was the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has also been called in for questioning.

The then Pakatan Harapan government, in one of its attempts to present the findings of their investigation into the fire, acknowledged that there were failures among various agencies. Former health minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, in arguing for transparency said, "What we want is transparency, including the weaknesses of the hospital or others (agencies), which will be revealed next week"...