JULY 27 — The Centre to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4 Centre) condemns the blatant intimidation, harassment, and persecution against whistleblowers shown by the current administration, and calls for a stronger Whistleblower Protection Act that protects and empowers whistleblowers, while supporting transparency and accountability, especially in the dark times of this pandemic.
On the June 5, 2020, Heidy Quah had called attention to the harmful conditions in immigration detention centres, which were overcrowded, unhygienic and harmful, thus blowing the whistle on what amounts to human rights violations.
However, instead of investigating and addressing these concerns, the government instead charged Quah on the morning of the July 27, 2021, under the Communications and Multimedia Act.
In a separate event, it was reported on the July 26, 2021 that Boo Su-Lyn, chief editor of health news portal CodeBlue, is now under investigation over an article about hidden Covid-19 cases at a vaccination centre.
Boo blew the whistle on the vaccination centre’s management hiding detected Covid-19 cases among volunteers and lax safety practices, not to mention the requirement for volunteers at the vaccination centre to sign a form subjecting them to the terms of the Official Secrets Act.
These acts of persecution and intimidation are the exact opposite of protecting whistleblowers, and serve as deterrents to upholding good governance, public accountability, and transparency, all of which are no longer ideals, but requirements for the nation to weather the pandemic.
C4 Centre condemns these acts of harassment, and calls for the authorities to instead focus on investigating and addressing the complaints and issues that have been brought up, thus prosecuting the actual wrong-doers, instead of charging the whistleblowers for raising the issues in the first place.
Such acts of intimidation serve no purpose but to further erode confidence in the system and prevent future whistleblowers from coming forward.
C4 Centre calls for urgent reforms to the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010. We recommend the following:
1. For S.6(1) of the WPA to be amended and allow whistleblowers to blow the whistle to other channels, and not be limited to only those enforcement agencies as listed under the act. These could include blowing the whistle to the media, lawyers and civil society organizations.
2. For S.6(1) and 8(1) of the WPA to be amended to allow disclosures prohibited by any written law to be made if such disclosures are issues relating to a criminal offence and/or abuse of power. The government cannot hide its wrongdoings under the Official Secrets Act or other restrictive laws.
3. For decisions on protection and revocation of protection to be decided by a separate independent body which is free of executive influence. This is important, especially when the matter being exposed is related to government wrongdoing and is evident from the two cases above where the government is investigating and persecuting the whistleblower for blowing the whistle on government wrongdoing.
4. For S.4 and S.27 of the WPA to be revoked and not to allow executive interference in the enforcement of the act.
5. For a reward mechanism to be considered for those whose cases are actually fully investigated and persons responsible prosecuted in court.
6. For the Official Secrets Act to be repealed and replaced by the Freedom of Information Act. On a wider scope to promote transparency and accountability, this is ever more important now as we deal with rising cases of abuse of power and incompetence of the government. The public has a right to know!
7. For a more enabling and conducive culture to report potential malpractice to be encouraged.
C4 Centre strongly demands for the persecution of whistleblowers to be immediately stopped! Drop the cases against Heidy Quah and Boo Su-Lyn and stop all intimidation tactics against whistleblowers! The government must carry out urgent reforms and provide protection to whistleblowers.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
