Khairy Jamaluddin, the Umno Youth Chief said that he is in support for the proposed FOI (Freedom of Information) Act although there are certain areas, for instance the procurement of arms that should be excluded from the Act. He said that while it is important that transparency of such information be preserved and practiced, in the interest of national security, the purchase of arms and its related information will only bring more harm than good.

He added that no country will disclose information or specifications of their defence system due to security reasons and hence one will not be able to find the exact specifications of the likes of tanks, missiles or jet fighters. He was speaking at the FOI forum recently held at the Malaysian Bar Council where the issue of defence were brought up and discussed again. The opposition MPs have been critical of the government for ‘trying’ to keep secret the purchase of the Scorpene submarines from DCNS, a French defence team which is said to amount up to RM16billion. Khairy called for the formation of an Armed Services committee made up of lawmakers and the armed forces to deliberate on the issues before going into secrecy.