KUALA LUMPUR: There is a pressing need to protect whistleblowers in Malaysia's battle against corruption.
The Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Centre) chief executive officer Pushpan Murugiah said that the larger issue at hand is not a lack of incentives for exposing corruption, but the dangers individuals face for doing so.
"Whistleblowers in Malaysia encounter numerous challenges, including threats to their safety, their families, and their livelihoods.
"These dangers often outweigh any monetary rewards they might receive for reporting corruption.
"As such, actual and meaningful progress to encourage corruption reporting must focus on reforming the systemic failures of Malaysia's whistleblower protection laws that, after over a decade, still do not adequately protect whistleblowers," he told the New Straits Times.
He said this in response to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki who told the New Straits Times' Beyond the Headlines talk show that there was a proposal to expand the reward scheme for exposing graft in the civil service to the general public.
However, Azam had said the matter was just a proposal and the specific and optimal procedures with lead agencies were still being ironed out.
Regarding the reward of whistleblowers for reporting misconduct, Pushpan said the practice is not new.
"This practice is not alien to Malaysia's anti-corruption framework."
Citing Section 26 of the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010, Pushpan said it allows enforcement agencies to adequately reward whistleblowers for their role in revealing improper conduct.
Under the section, the enforcement agency may order such rewards as it deems fit to be paid to the whistleblower for any disclosure of improper conduct or any complaint of detrimental action in reprisal for a disclosure of improper conduct.
Such actions would lead to the detection of cases on improper conduct or detrimental action or prosecution of the person against whom the disclosure of improper conduct was made or the person who commits the detrimental action.
"As such, this practice can be considered acceptable," he said.