We thank Ms Annie Ng Lee Hoon ("Important to protect whistle-blowers"; Oct 24) and Ms Ada Chan Siew Foen ("Role of whistle-blowers important"; Forum Online, Oct 26) for their feedback.

We agree that whistle-blowers play an important role in ensuring that charities remain accountable and transparent to the public.

Members of an organisation have a responsibility to report cases of wrongdoing, to safeguard the interests of the charity and its beneficiaries.

We also agree with Ms Ng and Ms Chan that the organisation should not reveal the identity of the whistle-blower, as this would better serve its long-term interests of encouraging members of staff to take an active role in its governance.

Governance is an important criterion for the public and stakeholders to decide whether to donate or volunteer their services to a charity.

As part of our processes to promote good governance among charities, in August, we started a second review of the Code of Governance for charities and Institutions of a Public Character (IPCs).

As part of this review, we are considering if the code should include a sound whistle-blowing policy for all charities to adopt.

R. Dhinakaran

Chairman

Sub-Committee for the Review of the Code of Governance

Charity Council