Use Whistleblowers Protection Act to report on corrupt practises, says legal researcher

KUALA LUMPUR - Exposing corrupt practices in the country often being regarded as a wrong thing to do as whistle-blowers are the ones who tend to be arrested for reporting such activity, a C4 Centre Legal Researcher claims.

To avoid the problem from taking place, Arief Hamizan shared the appropriate measure to report on corrupt practices under the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2010 which protected the person who shared the information.

“What should we do if we witness corrupt practices? In Malaysia, when we expose the deeds, we are the ones getting arrested so the most appropriate measure to report on corruption is through the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2010 which safeguards the person who shares the information on the practices.

“Under the act, we can reach out to any government body that has the authority to investigate the case such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Bank Negara Malaysia, Road Transport Department, Customs, and such depending on where it happened,” he said.

Arief was a panellist at a special forum organised by Rasuah Busters dubbed ‘Ketirisan Pemusnah Kesejahteraan Pekerja’ at Vida Bukit Ceylon, here today.

Commenting further, he said the agencies needed to confirm the protection concerning the identity, legal immunity be it civil or crimes against threats, harassment and discrimination at work.

He further added that those who committed such acts would be charged and convicted.

“For me, to combat corruption, leakage and irregularities, we need the proof from the employers themselves as the perpetrators will certainly not provide the proof to the agency,” he said.

After the investigation, he said, the whistle-blowers should not provide the information to any parties, be it the family members or even the lawyers as the protection will be revoked.

However, when asked about the possibility of the agency to fail in protecting the whistle-blowers, he said there were issues in which the whistle-blowers themselves have been denied the protection.

“The idea of Whistleblowers Protection Act is not an isolated issue as it also has to deal with things such as reforming the MACC to increase independence for our enforcement agencies,” he added.

He said this after the launch of an anti-corruption poster made by Malaysian political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, or Zunar who was also present at the forum.