Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) resounds the calls for anti-corruption, political funding, and other important legal reforms without further delays.
Over the weekend, Malaysiakini reported it had been shown eight videos showing different assemblymen (ADUNs) allegedly discussing bribes in exchange for support for a state project earlier this year and purportedly also showing a businessman discussing the repayment terms for alleged bribes after the project licence was revoked. The news portal cited an unnamed source revealing that the alleged whistleblower of the above alleged wrongdoings was willing to provide more details but wanted protection under the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 (WPA) first.
This is a classic case of political bribery and abuse of power which has hindered development and democracy in Malaysia since independence. Over the years, many projects have been riddled with scandals of corruption linked to politicians arising from project approvals, licenses and government processes, with few whistleblowers daring to step forth, due to various issues of trust deficit and fear of reprisals.
While we hope to echo civil society, politicians and netizens in commending the bravery of the whistleblower who has stepped forward with evidence of this case of abuse of power and political corruption, it is difficult to form a concrete opinion on the case as the whistleblower does not have the confidence to reveal their identity.
This anxiety of the whistleblower is understandable and stems from the troubling provisions in our WPA which state that there is no protection under the WPA where the disclosure offends any particular (for example the Official Secrets Act 1972} and also that any protection given to a whistleblower under the WPA shall be revoked if the whistleblower is found to have been involved in the wrongdoing being disclosed. There have been efforts from civil society and internally within the Government to upgrade the WPA to remove or amend these two troubling provisions and TI-M hopes there will be no further delay in this regard. Indeed, various public consultations have been conducted by the government and stakeholders have published their own reports and recommendations in the past 14 years about the flaws of the WPA (and corresponding Acts) which hinder effective whistleblowing, yet the draft amendment Bill remains something not yet seen the light of day.
TI-M would like to remind the Madani Government of its commitments in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2024-2028 (NACS) launched earlier this year – which aims for Malaysia to be top 25 in the Corruption Perceptions Index global ranking, and sets out to amend the WBPA under Strategy 4: Enforcement. This sub-strategy is inherited from the previous National Anti-Corruption Plan 2019-2023. Statistically, where there is lack of confidence in reporting and whistleblowing, or an observable resistance towards genuine reforms, the perceptions of corruption being rampant will continue to prevail.
Whistleblowing continues to be a great contributor in the fight against corruption but the Government need to recognise this and quickly remove the obstacles which prevent effective protection of whistleblowers who already risk so much in order to do the right thing in exposing the wrongdoers.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/725458
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/725463
https://www.reddit.com/r/malaysia/comments/1gn1iop/damning_clips_reps_filmed_discussing_bribes/
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Note to Editors: For clarification on any and all official statements from Transparency International – Malaysia (TI-M), kindly refer to its President, Dr Muhammad Mohan (mmohan@transparency.org.my)
