Whistle blowing - is it sedition or public duty in emerging economies

This article reviews if the introduction of new laws to encourage and protect whistle blowers is sufficient to improve corporate governance in Malaysian public listed companies. It provides suggestions to formulate internal whistle blowing policies for companies. It concludes that due to the culture of the people and the taxonomy of Malaysian public listed companies and companies in other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, having laws to encourage and protect whistle blowers to get rid of corporate wrong-doings is not necessarily the only solution. The article defines whistle blowing and the benefits of encouraging whistle blowers. It proceeds to highlight the issues of concern on whistle blowing. It also deliberates particular issues of whistle blowing in Malaysia by discussing the taxonomy of Malaysian public listed companies, the strength of the regulators in enforcement, the Malaysian culture and the Malaysian corporate scandals. The article elaborates on the whistle blowing laws in Malaysia and concludes by providing alternate ways to encourage whistle blowing in Malaysian companies having in mind the taxonomy of Malaysian companies and enforcement by regulators.