The Official Secrets Act 1972 (Malay: Akta Rahsia Rasmi 1972, abbreviated OSA), is a statute in Malaysia prohibiting the dissemination of information classified as an official secret. The legislation is based on the Official Secrets Act of the United Kingdom. After criticism of the act for lacking clarity, it was amended in 1986.
The act defines an "official secret" as:
...any document specified in the Schedule and any information and material relating thereto and includes any other official document, information and material as may be classified as 'Top Secret', 'Secret', 'Confidential' or 'Restricted', as the case may be, by a Minister, the Menteri Besar or Chief Minister of a State or such public officer
The Schedule to the Act covers "Cabinet documents, records of decisions and deliberations including those of Cabinet committees", as well as similar documents for state executive councils. It also includes "documents concerning national security, defence and international relations".
The act has been criticised for ostensibly stifling dissent and reducing transparency in government workings. One statesman has suggested that the act has turned the press into "an alternative Government Gazette". In addition, the usage of the act to classify documents which "cannot by any stretch of the imagination be reasonably confidential or secret" has been criticised.
The Official Secrets Act 1972, in its current form (1 January 2006), consists of 31 sections and 1 schedule (including 9 amendments), without separate Part.
Section 1: Short titleSection 2: InterpretationSection 2A: Addition, deletion or amendment of the ScheduleSection 2B: Appointment of public officer to classify official document, etc.Section 2C: Declassification of official secret by a Minister or a public officerSection 3: Penalties for spyingSection 4: Prohibition of taking or making any document, measurement, sounding or survey of or within a prohibited placeSection 5: Penalty for making or assisting in making false declarations or statements in obtaining permitsSection 6: Special power of the court to direct search and seizureSection 7: Prohibition from carrying photographic apparatusSection 7A: Duty to report request for information, etc.Section 7B: Placing in confidence of foreign agentSection 8: Wrongful communication, etc. of official secretSection 9: Unauthorized use of uniforms, falsification of reports, forgery, personation and false documentsSection 10: Interfering with police officers or members of the armed forcesSection 11: Duty to give informationSection 12: Power to require the production of messagesSection 13: HarbouringSection 14: Attempts, incitements, etc.Section 15: Restrictions on prosecutionsSection 16: Burden of proof and presumptionsSection 16A: Certificate by a public officer to be conclusive evidenceSection 17: Communications with foreign agents to be evidence of commission of certain offencesSection 17A: Defence available to a public officerSection 18: Power to arrestSection 19: Powers of search and seizureSection 20: Special powers of investigationSection 21: Admission of statements in evidenceSection 22: Evidence of accompliceSection 23: Examination of offendersSection 24: Protection of informersSection 25: Liability for offences outside MalaysiaSection 26: Trial of offencesSection 27: Exclusion of public during proceedingsSection 28: Criminal liability of corporation or firmSection 29: Minister may confer police powers on suitable personsSection 30: Powers under Criminal Procedure Code not restrictedSection 30A: RegulationsSection 31: RepealSchedule