KUALA LUMPUR: Amendments will be made to the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2010 to ensure complete confidentiality of those providing information against corruption, particularly those involving high profile cases, says Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (pic).

       The move to amend the laws comes after weaknesses in existing laws resulted in an extremely low number of whistleblowers being protected for divulging information against corruption since it came into force a decade ago.

       “Since 2011, 73,554 informers have come forward to provide information but only 527 were afforded protection under the Act.

       “This is an extremely low ratio.

       “This shows that there are weaknesses, be it in the implementation of the Act or in the provisions of the Act itself,” the minister in charge of Parliament and Law said in reply to a question raised by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PH-Port Dickson) in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

       Wan Junaidi, who is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, also cited an example where in 2015, only four informers were protected under the Act although 12,627 had come forward to provide information.

       So far this year, 136 individuals have come forward with information but none were protected as whistleblowers under the Act.

       “There are structural weaknesses in the present system.

       “For example, an informer in the police department has to provide information to his superiors and there may be leaks,” he said.

       Wan Junaidi noted that this was the situation although seven enforcement agencies such as the police, immigration, Customs and transport departments, as well as the Securities Commission and Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), had adopted the use of the Act.

       As such, he said that a committee was formed to look at amendments to the Act, and it had identified seven areas for improvements.

       “The findings of the study and parameters for the proposed improvements is scheduled to be tabled to the Cabinet by December,” he added.

       He said the proposed amendments included the definition of “inappropriate behaviour” which is currently too wide and unclear.

       He said that the Act currently did not recognise internal complaint mechanisms that exist in a “non-enforcement agency” as a means to channel information.

       Also, Wan Junaidi said that there was now no centralised management or main authority responsible or tasked with protecting whistleblowers in the country.

       He noted that the United States had a centralised body to handle the matter while whistleblowers in Australia can forward information to the ombudsman.

       He also said the amendments aim to resolve the inconsistencies under Section 6 of the Act and Section 203A(1) and (2) of the Penal Code with regard to information received while carrying out one’s duty.

       Also, Wan Junaidi said that Section 26 of the Act did not specify the method and scale of reward to be given to whistleblowers.

       Meanwhile, Anwar said he hoped the proposed amendments would be tabled in Parliament early next year.

       However, he noted that it would be of no use amending the law if there was no political will to go after high-profile cases.

       “What does it mean to fight high-profile corruption cases when we know there are many but there is no political will to do so?” he said, adding that the judiciary must also play its role as an independent body to ensure justice.

       Steven Choong (Ind-Tebrau) echoed similar sentiments, saying that there must be political will to go after high-profile corruption cases instead of taking action against “small fry”.

       Wan Junaidi acknowledged that apart from structural changes to the law, there also needs to be political will to ensure that informers in high profile cases are protected.

       “I accept the reality of what the YBs said about political will which is needed by the government to uphold the system to fight corruption or abuses of power by government officers and politicians in particular.

       “If there is no political will, we will not be able to achieve our objectives,” he said.

       He said this was the reason for the amendments which aim to offer complete protection to whistleblowers in the country.