Lawmakers’ Agenda | Wu Chou Kit denies Sulu’s sentiments on whistleblowers

In an unusual occurrence on Wednesday, lawmaker Wu Chou Kit used some of his speaking time to reply to a spoken inquiry that another lawmaker had made to the government earlier.
The event occurred at the Legislative Assembly (AL) during the period before the agenda, when Wu, after presenting his spoken inquiry, took the last few seconds of his time to address the plenary and reply to Sulu Sou. Sou had questioned the government over the need to protect so-called “whistleblowers,” especially in cases involving corruption or unlawful activities performed by government officials.
Sou noted that most cases of corruption and other unlawful activities that cause harm to society are often revealed by people with inside knowledge on the topic or by the media.
The lawmaker called on the government to establish a Whistleblower Protection Act locally, similar to those that exist in other jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Japan, to protect the whistleblowers who are essential for the revelation of the truth.
Wu replied almost immediately to Sou’s inquiry, stating that the local corruption watchdog and audit committee already possess similar mechanisms, denying the idea articulated by Sou that potential whistleblowers in Macau are under pressure and often refrain from revealing their knowledge of corruption and other cases due to fear of retaliation.