PUTRAJAYA (Feb 6): The Bill to amend the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 (Act 711) is expected to be tabled in Parliament in March or April, according to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.

However, he said the proposed amendment is still subject to the Cabinet’s approval.

Media reports earlier indicated that the amendment aims to strengthen protections for whistleblowers, and ensure more effective laws in combating misconduct and leakages in the administration.

As for the Freedom of Information Bill, Azam anticipates that it will be finalised in the second quarter before being tabled in Parliament in July, while the Political Funding Bill is expected to be tabled next year.

“This is our commitment as the leading agency for the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) to ensure that the implementation of good governance in the public service is carried out as soon as possible, before the NACS time frame ends in 2028,” he told a press conference on Thursday.

On Dec 17 last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in a Facebook post said that the Special Cabinet Committee on National Governance had agreed for the Freedom of Information Bill to be tabled in Parliament in 2025, with the aim to enhance transparency in the public service by ensuring that individuals’ rights to access information under the jurisdiction of the government are guaranteed and protected by law.

Earlier on Oct 15, Anwar also said that the policy parameters and scope of the proposed political funding law had yet to be finalised, and were still under scrutiny by the relevant bipartisan Parliamentary Special Select Committee.

For the record, the initiative to introduce laws regulating political funding was first pursued by the government in 2015, through the establishment of the National Consultative Committee on Political Financing, but it was not implemented.

Subsequently, the proposed legal framework for the Bill was also submitted by the government to Parliament in November 2019, to be presented to the Special Select Committee on Bills. However, it also failed to materialise.

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