KUALA LUMPUR: The bill to amend the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 (WPA) (Act 711), passed in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (July 22), is a major amendment that will boost the effectiveness of the Act.
Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan said the WPA was passed in 2010 to provide protection to whistleblowers, but there are several flaws in the Act that severely hampered its effectiveness.
"One major flaw in the Act (prior to the amendment) was that the disclosure made must not be prohibited by any written law. This is found in a proviso in Section 6(1) of the Act.
"Thus, the disclosure of matters covered by the Official Secrets Act 1972, for example, would not attract protection under the Act.
"Consider the offence under Section 203A of the Penal Code of 'disclosure of information'. Under the section, a person who discloses any information or matter which he has obtained in the performance of his duties, or the exercise of his functions under any written law, commits an offence," he said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
For example, he said if an individual uncovers improper conduct in a ministry, but that information is classified by the Official Secrets Act (OSA), even if he discloses it to an enforcement agency, he will not be accorded protection under the WPA.
Syahredzan said laws such as the OSA and Section 203A of the Penal Code resulted in many whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers not falling under the ambit of protection within the WPA.
"With the amendment today, such disclosures are no longer disqualified. The proviso in Section 6(1) will be removed. In other words, even if the improper conduct is contained in a document classified under the OSA, the whistleblower can still be protected," he said.
He further said that if this bill becomes law after going through the Dewan Negara and the rest of the legislative process, a whistleblower will be protected even though the disclosure is prohibited by law. - Bernama
