KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday defended the government's decision to lodge police reports against three dailies for publishing reports on the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the V.K. Lingam video clip ahead of the official announcement.

"The (police) reports are justified. The newspapers should have waited until we announced it," the prime minister said after chairing the 11th MSC International Advisory Panel meeting here.

The reports, lodged by the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister's Department on Friday, were against the New Straits Times, Berita Harian and The Star.

Abdullah said the commission's report was presented to the cabinet for a decision on whether it should be made public.

"So, before the government makes a decision, it is not appropriate to report it ahead of the government's announcement."
He said in this context, a complaint had been filed as the royal commission was of the view that the newspapers had violated the law and he said he felt "their complaint is justified".

Referring to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim's statement this week that the reports did not violate the Official Secrets Act, Abdullah said the matter was open to interpretation. "The fact is, we (government) have to see it (report) first."

In Kota Baru, Zaid said tighter security measures would be taken to prevent the leaking of sensitive information.

He said this was necessary following the publication of the contents of the commission's report before it was made public.