Who Does The Whistleblower Act Really Protect? A Powerful Message From Sabah.

 

I received the following via WhatsApp today.  It originates from Sabah. This is a powerful message. It is brief. My comments follow.

"We are Tiada.Guru, a campaign of Ministry of ... officer-whistleblowers, s.....s, parents and activists. Founded in Sabah, Tiada.Guru focuses on public service misconduct, corruption, abuse of power, and inequality in the M...

We know whistleblowers like us are not alone, but frankly our days are numbered. We are very serious about whistleblower protection: its lack is one of Malaysia’s critical emergencies. 

Whistleblower protection is a powerful reform for Malaysia today:

-jumpstarts almost all other reforms
-nearly-universally popular among all constituencies
-powerful immediate & incredible long-term impacts
-unprecedented capability to unite Malaysian communities

We do not want to delay. 

As part of an ongoing media campaign on recent High Court litigation, we are preparing an open letter / statement to the Unity Cabinet that whistleblower reform is a foundational reform that will, literally, save Malaysia, is a clear and widely recognized reform, and, while underrated, is a compelling strategic victory for all constituencies. 

Our first action will be the open letter / statement, next to a public-oriented education campaign (e.g., our in-progress 50+ Reasons for Whistleblower Protection Yesterday page).

Would ... be interested in supporting this reform publicly and, if yes, considering co-signing this draft statement? It is now public and ready for comments. We will sincerely value ... to join us on this journey to protect whistleblowers like us. If you would like to be a co-signer, please reply to this email by ...

We act now in solidarity for whistleblowers throughout Malaysia: last month, an unprotected whistleblower M.. t.....r testified in High Court that she received death threats by her colleagues to avoid exposing falsified government records, absent t......s, and abuse of power at her rural Sabahan sc...l. Her name has been withheld for the time being; it is a public part of the Court proceedings and we will do our best to share her sacrifices.

Thank you so much,

— J.., co-founder of the Tiada.Guru Campaign"

 

My Comments:

The Whistleblower Act was drafted (I think quite hastily) in 2009-2010 during the Najib regime.The Minister in charge was Idris Jala.

"Whistleblower Act to be implemented on Dec 15 2010
Published:  Nov 29, 2010 Updated: Nov 30, 2010 

The Whistleblower Protection Act 2010, formulated to curb corruption, will be implemented on Dec 15, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Idris Jala."

Considering that Najib has now been jailed for 72 years for corruption how serious do you think they were about implementing the Whistleblowers Act in 2010 ? I think Najib and UMNO just keep making fools of everyone.

Idris Jala has a special place in the Whistleblowers Act  because in 2005 (under the corrupted Abdullah Badawi regime) Idris Jala was the CEO of MAS when there was a very embarrassing leak of information about wrongdoings at MAS.

In response to that very embarrassing leak of information, Idris Jala (in 2005) actually encouraged MAS employees to turn whistleblower, saying that they would be protected. After being CEO of MAS Idris Jala went on to become a Cabinet Minister and he was put in charge of introducing the Whistleblowers Act in 2009/2010. 

When I was an Advisor to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission we were briefed about the Whistleblowers Act. We were told that if any whistleblower talks to the Media first then he will not be protected under the Whistleblowers Act. I am still trying to decipher what that really means.   Hence my point above that the Act was drafted hastily. 

Whistleblowers should be protected under all circumstances. No ifs and buts. The degree of protection should be decided on a case by case basis but always above a minimum and very secure threshold.

But how serious are they? Under Najib he fired Muhyiddin Yassin for raising questions about the 1MDB corruption. The Attorney General was fired from his job in like 24 hours and replaced by a shrimp who promptly absolved Najib of all wrongdoing. So how serious were they?

Not surprisingly at all we hardly hear of anyone who has been protected by this Act for blowing the whistle about anything.

What about now? How serious are they now? Or is it just more lip service?

This message from Sabah is current. Today's news. The Sabahans seem to have real issues about which they want to blow the whistle. 

Their saying  "We know whistleblowers like us are not alone, but frankly our days are numbered. We are very serious about whistleblower protection: its lack is one of Malaysia’s critical emergencies. "   is indeed very sad. 

What has this country become?

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.