PETALING JAYA: Any amendments to the current Whistleblower Protection Act must ensure better protection for whistleblowers, say experts.

Transparency International Malaysia president Dr Muhammad Mohan said amendments should allow for whistleblowers to be protected even if their disclosure broke any laws such as the Official Secrets Act, Penal Code or banking secrecy.

“Internal whistleblowing should be protected under the Whistle-blower Protection Act instead of it being just towards enforcement agencies.

“Instances of external whistleblowing should also allow lodging reports to other bodies, such as NGOs and other government agencies, instead of it being limited to enforcement agencies,” he said, adding that these aspects were crucial towards protecting whistleblowers.

He also noted that letting whistleblowers report any instances of wrongdoing to entities apart from enforcement agencies should also be allowed, in cases of trust deficit with enforcement agencies when handling such cases.

“Whistleblowing is a powerful tool to fight corruption.

“The longer we wait (for studies or further amendments) the worse corruption can become,” he said.

Universiti Sains Malaysia criminologist Datuk Dr P. Sundramoorthy, said that retaliatory actions against whistleblowers must be deterred with clear and exact language in any amendments in order to remove any loopholes.

“If it is proven that the people above have been ‘playing dirty’ by being vindictive to the whistleblower, strict action...

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