Defects in the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 (WPA) has rendered it incapable of protecting whistleblowers, said civil rights advocacy group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL).

LFL executive director Eric Paulsen said the law, which the police said must be followed by potential whistleblowers, contained three highly questionable provisions that made it incompatible with the purpose of the law.

Firstly, he said Section 6(1) states that any disclosure will not fall under its protection if it is prohibited by any written law.

"For example, banking confidentiality provisions that prohibit unauthorised disclosures; and the Officials Secrets Act that confers absolute discretion to the relevant authorities to classify any official document as 'official secret' even though it may not be a secret or security risk, and its exposure is in the public interest," said Paulsen.

Secondly, Section 11(1)(d) state that protection can be revoked if the "disclosure of improper conduct principally involves questioning the merits of government policy, including policy of a public body".

Paulsen described this provision as "preposterous" as most cases of serious or systemic wrongdoings of public bodies will involve questioning the merits of government and public body policy.

Thirdly, Section 8 states that the whistleblower would be criminalised if he/she were to divulge the wrongdoing to another party, after invoking the protection the act confers, such as the press or an MP.

Law meant to silence

With regards to the controversy surrounding 1MDB, Paulsen said that if The Edge Financial Daily and The Edge Weekly had gone through the WPA procedure, it would not have resulted in transparency.

"Do we for a moment think that the authorities would all of a sudden become independent and swoop down on the perpetrators? Would the culture of secrecy, lack of transparency and accountability suddenly disappear?

"Let us be clear; without any media and public pressure, the whole 1MDB scandal would simply have been hushed up," said Paulsen.

Paulsen, who is a lawyer, said the WPA was clearly not designed to serve public interest or combat corruption and instead, designed to place potential whistleblowers in a dilemma.

"It is to pressure them to go through a false whistleblower protection procedure where very little will be done and more importantly, to stop them from going to the press or to the authorities' political adversaries," he said.

Earlier today, inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar wrote on Twitter that whistleblowers should use the proper channels as going public through the press would invite "misunderstanding, incorrect perceptions, and chaos".

Blunting the Edge

This follows the Home Ministry's decision to suspend the printing license of The Edge Financial Daily and The Edge Weekly for three months.

The two publications have been reporting extensively on the 1MDB controversy for several years.

On July 20, The Edge Financial Daily published an article claiming that businessman Jho Low ( photo ) and PetroSaudi International Ltd (PSI) had "cheated" Malaysia of US$1.83 billion.

In 2009, 1MDB entered a joint-venture with PSI by investing US$1 billion. The JV lasted just six months.

According to the report , US$700 million was paid directly to a company known as Good Star Limited, incorporated in the Seychelles.

The report claimed that Low, a known associate of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, controlled Good Star Limited.

It is believed that all these allegations came to light because of documents furnished to The Edge Media Group by former PSI director Xavier Andre Justo.

Justo is currently held by the Thai authorities for allegedly attempting to blackmail his former employer.