Kuala lumpur: The bill to amend the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 (WPA) (Act 711), passed in the Dewan Rakyat today, is a major amendment that will boost the effectiveness of the Act.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan highlighted that the WPA, originally passed in 2010 to provide protection to whistleblowers, contained several flaws that hampered its effectiveness. One significant flaw was that disclosures prohibited by any written law were not protected under the Act. This limitation was notably found in a proviso in Section 6(1) of the Act, which meant that disclosures covered by the Official Secrets Act 1972 did not attract protection.

Syahredzan explained that this posed a problem for individuals who uncovered improper conduct, as information classified under the Official Secrets Act or Section 203A of the Penal Code could not be disclosed without the risk of committing an offence. This resulted in many whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers not being protected under the WPA.

The recent amendments address these issues by removing the proviso in Section 6(1), allowing disclosures to be protected even if they pertain to documents classified under the Official Secrets Act. If the bill is enacted into law following the legislative process, whistleblowers will be protected regardless of whether the disclosure is prohibited by existing laws.