The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center) strongly questions Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s comments in the Senate on 16 December on planned amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 (WPA) early this year.
According to Anwar, the WPA shall undergo another set of amendments to differentiate between “genuine whistleblowers, who must be defended and protected” and “hardened criminals” who seek to hide behind the law.
If this distinction means that whistleblowers who participated in the alleged corruption do not receive any protection, C4 Center strongly disagrees with the proposal.
This approach will only hamper anti-corruption efforts, as individuals implicated in wrongful conduct will have no reason to come forward with valuable information that may only be available to them.
To be clear, this does not mean that such individuals should receive blanket immunity or unconditional protection. However, all whistleblowers – regardless of involvement in alleged wrongdoing – must receive some level of protection under the law.
Furthermore, Anwar’s statement seemingly contradicts his own administration’s amendments to the WPA earlier last year, which enables enforcement agencies to maintain protection for whistleblowers who participated in alleged wrongdoing under Section 11(1A).
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