ABSTRACT

Whistleblowing has long been seen as a terrible thing to engage in, offering little or no benefit to the whistleblower involved. Here, then, lies the allure of anonymous whistleblowing. The Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) 2010 in Malaysia was conceived with the hope that the stigma that is frequently associated with whistleblowing is removed. However, whistleblowing rarely occurs in environmental protection, leaving many of the rivers polluted in Malaysia. This paper discusses issues associated with whistleblowing, in particular, the issue of anonymity in whistleblowing. It employs doctrinal analysis of relevant laws on whistleblowing. The study indicates that WPA 2010 can be used to promote whistleblowing in river pollution cases. WPA 2010 also encourages employees or the general public to expose illegal pollution, as well as encouraging more voluntary whistleblowing in order to promote and enhance environmental governance. The study also recommends that anonymity issues need to be solved through a code of ethical conduct which protects valid whistleblowers and a standard operating procedure that ensures actions are taken after whistleblowing.