{
  "id": 1421308,
  "title": "FOI bill puts Malaysia in bottom 10 globally, says rights group",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/17/foi-bill-puts-malaysia-in-bottom-10-globally-says-rights-group",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-17T04:48:04.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2026/08/17/foi-bill-puts-malaysia-in-bottom-10-globally-says-rights-group"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "An international rights watchdog has criticised Malaysia's proposed Freedom of Information Bill 2026, stating it would place the country in the bottom 10 globally for right-to-information (RTI) laws if enacted in its current form. The Centre of Law and Democracy (CLD) gave the bill a score of 47 out of 150 total points, ranking Malaysia 137th out of 142 countries assessed. CLD highlighted several issues with the bill, including overly restrictive requesting procedures that limit access to only four purposes, broad secrecy provisions, and insufficient oversight mechanisms.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Free Malaysia Today",
        "title": "FOI bill puts Malaysia in bottom 10 globally, says rights group",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/17/foi-bill-puts-malaysia-in-bottom-10-globally-says-rights-group-1424528",
        "published": "2026-08-17T04:48:04.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "New Straits Times",
        "title": "PTP puts Malaysia's first electric prime movers into operation",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/17/ptp-puts-malaysias-first-electric-prime-movers-into-operation",
        "published": "2026-08-17T05:54:01.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}