WE, the civil society partners and subject-matter experts for the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia (APPGM) on Integrity, Governance, and Anti-Corruption, welcome the tabling of amendments to the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) 2010.
While the move is timely and necessary, the proposed reforms remain incomplete and require urgent refinement to ensure meaningful protection and long-term institutional integrity.
The proposed interim committee must not become a permanent workaround. As such an Ombudsman must be introduced to replace the functions of the interim committee as per the commitment by the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform).
In the interim period, the composition of the interim body must include independent civil society actors, legal and governance experts—not just government insiders. Appointment
processes must be transparent and criteria-based.
We reiterate our long-standing position: without an independent Ombudsman, the WPA remains structurally weak. The absence of this key institution continues to leave whistleblower protection vulnerable to selective enforcement and political interference. The establishment of the Ombudsman must proceed without further delay.
We support efforts to amend Section 6 to ensure that WPA protections override conflicting laws, including the Official Secrets Act and Section 203A of the Penal Code. Until this is clearly codified, whistleblowers remain at legal risk—defeating the purpose of the Act.
We welcome the inclusion of S11(1A) which states that notwithstanding S11(1)(a), the protection conferred to the whistleblower may be maintained by the enforcement agency, if based on the investigations or in the course of the investigation by the enforcement agency, the enforcement agency discovers that the protection needs to be conferred.
The Act provides the enforcement agencies discretionary powers to maintain protection on a case by case basis.
The WPA amendments are the result of years of multi-stakeholder engagement. The reform process must remain open, inclusive, and guided by evidence and international best practice. We caution against any regression to closed-door policymaking.
We reaffirm our bipartisan commitment to integrity and public accountability. Real reform requires more than technical adjustments—it requires legal clarity, structural safeguards, and institutional courage.
We remain ready to support the government in delivering a permanent, credible whistleblower protection framework. We also commend the MPs raising these issues in Parliament today and urge continued leadership in seeing these reforms through.
This article was written by Partners to All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia (APPGM) on Integrity, Governance, and Anti-Corruption