C4 Center: Unrealistic to only protect 'clean' whistleblowers
Published: Mar 7, 2025 10:50 PM
Updated: 1:50 AM
Summary
- C4 Center raises concern over part of the proposal to amend the Whistleblowers Protection Act, which seeks to revoke protection for any whistleblower who “wilfully participated” in the crime.
- It says such expectation is restrictive and unrealistic.
- The group also warns that having such a prerequisite opens whistleblowers to risks.
Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4 Center) has raised concern over Putrajaya’s proposal to mandate whistleblowers having “clean hands” as a prerequisite for them to be accorded protection under the law.
This followed the tabling of a bill to amend the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) yesterday, where the government wants to add the word “willfully” in Section 11(1)(a).
This amendment, if it gets passed by Parliament, will give power to an enforcement agent to revoke protection for a whistleblower who has “willfully participated in the improper conduct” they are disclosing.
In a statement, C4 Center said such a provision would open a whistleblower to risks of automatically losing their protection, and they also have no way to dispute an enforcement agent’s decision.
“How can a whistleblower dispute this? Is it sufficient for a whistleblower to submit evidence to the enforcement agent? What if such evidence is unavailable?
“Beyond challenging the revocation of their protection in court - which would put a whistleblower at risk - what mechanisms are there for a whistleblower to prove their involvement (was) unwillful? The amendment is silent on this.
“Regardless, it bears reminding that mandating ‘clean hands’ as a prerequisite for all whistleblowers is incredibly restrictive and is an unrealistic expectation,” the group said.
Adding further, C4 Center said while “tainted” whistleblowers might not be given the full scope of protections under the law, a balance can be struck so they have incentives to come forward and larger corruption issues can be dealt with.
It gave the example of the recent Sabah corruption scandal, which saw the bribe-giver exposing the alleged involvement of Sabah state assemblypersons in corruption.
“While this has not led to any charges yet, it has shed light on the sheer scale of corruption amongst politicians in the state,” the statement read.
On Thursday, the Whistleblower Protection (Amendment) Bill 2025 was tabled for its first reading in the Dewan Rakyat.
Among others, the bill also seeks to establish a Whistleblower Protection Committee whose chairperson and members will be appointed by the government.
This followed the tabling of a bill to amend the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) yesterday, where the government wants to add the word “willfully” in Section 11(1)(a).
This amendment, if it gets passed by Parliament, will give power to an enforcement agent to revoke protection for a whistleblower who has “willfully participated in the improper conduct” they are disclosing.
In a statement, C4 Center said such a provision would open a whistleblower to risks of automatically losing their protection, and they also have no way to dispute an enforcement agent’s decision.
“How can a whistleblower dispute this? Is it sufficient for a whistleblower to submit evidence to the enforcement agent? What if such evidence is unavailable?
“Beyond challenging the revocation of their protection in court - which would put a whistleblower at risk - what mechanisms are there for a whistleblower to prove their involvement (was) unwillful? The amendment is silent on this.
“Regardless, it bears reminding that mandating ‘clean hands’ as a prerequisite for all whistleblowers is incredibly restrictive and is an unrealistic expectation,” the group said.
Adding further, C4 Center said while “tainted” whistleblowers might not be given the full scope of protections under the law, a balance can be struck so they have incentives to come forward and larger corruption issues can be dealt with.
It gave the example of the recent Sabah corruption scandal, which saw the bribe-giver exposing the alleged involvement of Sabah state assemblypersons in corruption.
“While this has not led to any charges yet, it has shed light on the sheer scale of corruption amongst politicians in the state,” the statement read.
On Thursday, the Whistleblower Protection (Amendment) Bill 2025 was tabled for its first reading in the Dewan Rakyat.
Among others, the bill also seeks to establish a Whistleblower Protection Committee whose chairperson and members will be appointed by the government.
Some whistle-blowers are inevitably "compromised" individuals themselves.
ReplyDeleteUp to law enforcement to assess whether what is being exposed is worth giving protection to the individual who could have committed crimes...
The Art of the Deal....wakakakaka