New reforms won't fix weak whistleblower protection law without ombudsman, civil society warns

Malay Mail

2 days ago

KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 — The Malaysian government must introduce an ombudsman without delay to protect whistleblowers who raise the alarm on corruption, crimes or misconduct, experts and civil society groups have said.
In a statement dated yesterday, these subject matter experts and civil society groups welcomed the government's recent tabling of amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) 2010 in the Dewan Rakyat, but said it should be improved.
'While the move is timely and necessary, the proposed reforms remain incomplete and require urgent refinement to ensure meaningful protection and long-term institutional integrity,' they said in a statement.
The statement was signed by 13 partners to the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia (APPGM) on Integrity, Governance and Anti-Corruption, which is a bipartisan 14-member group of federal lawmakers chaired by a Pakatan Harapan MP and with a Perikatan Nasional MP as its vice chairman.
The 13 partners zeroed in on the proposed amendment to the WPA to create a 'Whistleblower Protection Committee', stressing that this should only be a temporary fix and must be replaced by an ombudsman.
This is what the government plans to do by adding Section 5A to the WPA:
'Whistleblower Protection Committee' to oversee the Act's implementation and to get statistics on disclosure and complaints received.
The committee's composition: Law minister to appoint chairman and maximum seven members;
Committee chairman's term and members' term are a maximum three years, but they can be reappointed when their term expires.
Civil society urges for ombudsman instead of temporary Whistleblower Protection Committee
On July 22, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran in the Dewan Rakyat said the Whistleblower Protection Committee is just a 'stopgap measure' until the Malaysian government introduces a new agency called the Ombudsman Malaysia.
Kulasegaran said the Whistleblower Protection Committee is not meant to be permanent, and that a new law is expected to be created at the end of this year to introduce the ombudsman.
He had also said that the ombudsman is expected to take over the committee's duties, and also have the added power to receive tip-offs from whistleblowers and also monitor the outcome of investigations by enforcement agencies.
But in their statement yesterday, the 13 partners to the APPGM group said 'the proposed interim committee must not become a permanent workaround', and said an ombudsman must be introduced to replace it.
Before the ombudsman is created, they said the interim whistleblower protection committee's members must not only be government insiders, but must include 'independent civil society actors, legal and governance experts' appointed through a transparent and criteria-based process.
'We reiterate our long-standing position: without an independent Ombudsman, the WPA remains structurally weak.
'The absence of this key institution continues to leave whistleblower protection vulnerable to selective enforcement and political interference. The establishment of the Ombudsman must proceed without further delay,' they said.
Other amendments good
In the same statement, the 13 partners to the APPGM group supported two other major amendments in the WPA (to amend Section 6, to add Section 11(1A)):
1. (Section 6 amendment)
The existing WPA does not protect whistleblowers, if there are any written law that prohibits them from disclosing information related to the improper conduct (for example, the Official Secrets Act).
The proposed amendment would allow whistleblowers to still be protected in Malaysia even if the information disclosure is prohibited by any law.
What the 13 experts and civil society representatives say:
They support the Section 6 amendment to ensure that WPA protections would override conflicting laws (including the Official Secrets Act and the Penal Code's Section 203A), as whistleblowers will remain at legal risk and the WPA's purpose would be defeated without this amendment.
2. (Section 11(1A) amendment)
This proposed amendment seeks to empower the relevant enforcement agency to use its own discretion to decide that it will continue to protect the whistleblower, if the enforcement agency discovers during investigation that such protection needs to be given.
What the 13 experts and civil society representatives say:
This amendment is a welcome addition. The amendment gives enforcement agencies the discretionary powers to maintain protection for whistleblowers on a case by case basis.
As a whole, the 13 individuals said the WPA amendments are the result of years of multi-stakeholder engagement, and cautioned against any regression to closed-door policymaking.
'The reform process must remain open, inclusive, and guided by evidence and international best practice,' they said, while also offering their support to help the government deliver a permanent and credible framework for whistleblower protection.
The statement's 13 signatories are Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar; Tan Sri Nazir Razak; Datuk Hussamuddin Yaacub (#RasuahBusters); Professor Edmund Terence Gomez; Shah Hakim Zain; Maha Balakrishnan; Anas Zubedy; Nurhayati Nordin (#RasuahBusters secretariat); Cynthia Gabriel (C4); Pushpan Murugiah (C4); Badlishah Sham Baharin (Ikram); Aira Azhari (IDEAS); and Tharma Pillai (Undi 18).
The WPA amendments were tabled at the Dewan Rakyat on March 6 and was passed on July 22, and will next be tabled at Dewan Negara.
The WPA amendments will only become law if the Dewan Negara also passes those amendments, and after the amendments receive royal assent, are gazetted and take legal effect.