Policy Paper No 36
A critical look into the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010
Author: Christopher Leong
Despite the introduction of the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 (the Act), whistleblowing is still a rare occurrence in Malaysia. In fact, the annual report from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in 2012 indicates that out of a total of 8,953 complaints received by the Commission only 28 were from whistleblowers. However, data from the US suggests that as a method of detection whistleblowing is the single most effective means of uncovering graft. Considering the importance of whistleblowers in discovering cases of fraud the low number of whistleblowers as observed through the MACC statistics suggest that whistleblowers in Malaysia remain hesitant.
In order to encourage more individuals to come forward and whistleblow, there must be several changes made to Whistleblower Protection Act 2010. To achieve this, the following three areas need to be reformed under the Act:
- Protection for Whistleblowers – the level of protection for whistleblowers needs to be improved and reinforced.
- Independence of the Act – the Act still remains vulnerable to Ministerial action and it needs to be made entirely independent of such influence.
- Whistleblowing Mechanism – a more comprehensive whistleblowing mechanism needs to be created – one that is more robust than the current model.