AS Transparency International Malaysia’s (TI-M) newest chief, Muhammad Mohan said his goal is to see through the work started by his predecessors to create a solid system that encourages integrity and honesty in the corporate and public services.

One of TI-M’s current projects, which he hopes to push for during his tenure, is a proposal to strengthen the Whistle-blower Protection Act 2010, and make amendments to address its apparent contradiction with the Official Secrets Act 1972.

“Despite having a protection act, there are many gaps in its implementation,” Muhammad told The Malaysian Insight.

“In some cases, some provisions of the Whistle-blower Protection Act conflict with the Official Secrets Act.

“(So) what happens when someone exposes something, but contravenes the Official Secrets Act?

“People are slowly becoming aware of this, and nobody wants to come forward.” 

TI-M has been offering to help the government formulate the necessary amendments to the act, he said.

Muhammad, who lectures at Sunway University and works as a management consultant, took over from Akhbar Satar on March 30.

Muhammad has been serving as an executive committee member of TI-M since 2013 and its secretary-general before the appointment as president.

Apart from the whistle-blower act, Muhammad said TI-M hopes to ramp up its efforts to educate the public on their rights when it comes to fighting corruption as many remain unaware of the laws put in place to protect them.

He cited the recent corporate liability provision amendment of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, which takes effect in June 2020 under Section 17(A) of the act, which makes a company liable for the involvement of any employee or vendor in any form of bribery or corruption.

Many in the private sector are not even aware of the provisions, he said.

“Our concern is that if it is still unclear by 2020, you will have many companies trying to lobby the government to postpone the implementation. This is the usual culture in Malaysia – everything comes last minute.

“You can make any law, but if there is no political will to take it through, it won’t work.”

Muhammad said that TI-M has proposed roadshows to educate companies on the provision, its penalties, and operating procedures.

“The ministerial guidelines have already come out for adequate procedures but the problem is that they have not cascaded down to the commercial sector. Companies are not involved and are unaware,” he said.

“We are ready to stand with the government and help it as members of civil society.

“Many of us come from the corporate sector. We know what’s going on in it, and we can be of big help to the government.” – April 16, 2019.