Whistleblowers who expose corruption or fraud secreted away under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) must be given protection, says Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Paul Low.

"If (the OSA document) relates to abuse, if there is corruption or fraud. for example, there should be exemptions that they can whistleblow without being prosecuted.

"Who would want to whistleblow without protection?" Low told Malaysiakini today.

The Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA), he said, should also be extended to protect civil servants and provide them with a secure channel in which to expose wrongdoings in government.

The WPA currently grants no protection to those who leak OSA documents.

Sensitive data must be protected

Low was commenting on attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali's plan to strengthen the OSA to punish those who leak government secrets with life imprisonment and 10 strokes of the rotan.

Low agreed that sensitive information, such as issues of national security, open investigation papers, tender negotiations and citizen data need to be protected.

However, he said, the OSA needs to be reviewed so that the government could be more open.

"Transparency promotes accountability and good decision-making.

"You can't just take a couple of areas (under the OSA) and decide everything should be secret and that everyone should go to jail," Low said.

He said the information that the government should share with the public should include concessions it has entered into, such as tolls and data that can help professionals plan better development.

By being more open, Low added, the government would be moving in tandem with public expectations for more information.