DESPITE laws to protect whistleblowers, flaws in the system make it difficult for civil society to fight corruption, say groups reviewing Malaysia’s implementation of United Nations standards on fighting corruption.

Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) executive director Cynthia Gabriel said the overall environment was “very disenabling” with whistleblowers getting attacked and complaints going unheeded.

Chief among the problems C4 cited was the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)’s lack of independence. 

“In a broad sense, we may have what look like the structures for it, but do we in essence really have the ability to fight corruption effectively with the participation of society? Are we even on that road where MACC is truly independent to take the cases all the way?” said Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) exco member Chew Phye Keat at a press conference today.

The groups also highlighted inadequate protection for whistleblowers as individuals who report alleged corruption to non-governmental organisations, the media and non-law enforcement agencies are not protected under the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010.. 

This greatly hinders civil society’s participation in fighting corruption, Gabriel said.

Chew said the government should have appropriate measures to make anti-corruption bodies accessible to the public and make the people feel safe when reporting graft.

These are provided for under Article 13 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), he added. The article requires government to ensure that members of society can participate in reporting any corruption activity.

Another structural problems that make public participation hard is the lack of a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. Malaysia has instead the Official Secrets Act 1972, which effectively makes all government documents classified by default.

Yet another issue is that it is not mandatory for senior public officials and MPs to declare their assets, making it difficult for political corruption to be detected and assessed. 

MACC invited C4, TI-M and Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) to represent civil society in the review process of Malaysia’s implementation of Article 13 of the UNCAC, which the country ratified in 2008.

IDEAS chief operating officer Tricia Yeoh, emphasised the importance of MACC continuing its partnership with civil society. 

“It is very positive and we are happy they invited us to provide feedback but we also hope the participation will not be superficial and will be an ongoing, long-term partnership,” she said. – July 5, 2017.