Statutory declarations (SD) are not necessary for declassified documents as they are unlikely to be misused, said Penang Gerakan.
The party's state acting Youth chief, Jason Loo, said those who applied for the documents have to provide their personal particulars.
"How can the documents obtained be misused for commercial purposes?" Loo asked.
He was responding to Penang Deputy Chief Minister P Ramasamy who said the SD was to prevent those requesting the information from 'amending, editing or duplicating' classified documents.
Ramasamy said such documents were only for personal references and research purposes.
Loo urged the Penang government to abolish the Freedom of Information Act (FOA) if it refused to abolish the requirement to sign the SD when obtaining documents.
"If Ramasamy has genuine political will, he should consider abolishing the requirement to sign the SD," Loo said at a press conference in George Town today.
Loo said information is under the portfolio of the chief minister, while FOI is under his deputy.
"So, who is actually making the call for this (signing of SD)?" Loo asked.
"We are entering the informatisation era, the people need more information to analyse, to make decision, to check and balance the government," he said.
"If governments are more transparent, then the people, especially youngsters, will also have the opportunities to learn; both the people and the government will improve together.
"This shows the evolution of democracy in the state or country," he added.
Loo was in George Town today to apply for four key documents related to Penang's three expressways and undersea tunnel, which links the island to Butterworth.
He cited section 11(2) of the FOI Act which states that the authorities have the power to disclose or declassify confidential information.
Based on this, the state shall give applicant access to the information if the public interest for its disclosure outweighs the risk of it.
"We challenge the state government to consider public interest in this undersea tunnel and three expressways and thus declassify the documents without having us to sign the SD," Loo said. -Mkini
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