E
E.Honda
Guest
Tuesday December 7, 2010
Whistleblower Protection Act to come into force next week
By M. KUMAR
[email protected]
KUALA LUMPUR: The soon to be enforced Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 will cover informants from the private sector and not just civil servants. Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk V.K. Liew, who announced this yesterday, said the Act provided the mechanism for anyone to report improper conduct.
“Hopefully, this will encourage informants to come forward and expose corrupt practices and other forms of misconduct without fear of being stigmatised or suffering repercussions,” he told reporters after a briefing on the Act by the director-general of the Legal Affairs Division in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Saripuddin Kasim, at a hotel here.
The Act, scheduled to be enforced on Dec 15, is an initiative under the Government Transformation Pro-gramme’s National Key Results Area to aggressively tackle corruption across the board.
Under the provisions of the Act, the whistleblower will have confidentiality of identity, immunity from civil and criminal action, as well as other detrimental action. “Any detrimental action taken against a whistleblower by anyone for reporting an improper conduct will be investigated and action can be taken,” Liew said.
He said a whistleblower who was a victim of detrimental action could be awarded compensation in the form of damages, injunctions or any other relief awarded by the court. Earlier in his speech, Liew also urged corporations to implement their own whistleblower policies internally to instil good corporate governance.
“Many companies such as Malay-sia Airlines and the Port Klang Authority have already begun implementing their own whistleblower policies and other corporations should follow suit,” he said. Liew added that with the enactment of the Whistleblower Protec-tion Act 2010, Malaysia had taken another step towards fulfilling its obligations under the United Nations Convention against Corrup-tion.
“Clearly, it is a significant milestone for Malaysia in its all-out war against corruption. Hopefully, the Act will contribute to greater transparency in the government delivery system,” he said.
