FULL INTERVIEW | 25:52 min

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Paul Low was non-committal about cabinet members publicly disclosing their assets, saying there were pros and cons to the move.

In the second part of a joint interview with KiniTV yesterday, when asked whether he would push for such public declarations, Low said the matter needs to be debated as a matter of policy, but hopes to give the current process more legal weight.

"It needs to be discussed, but as we go along, I think we should be more open."

He pointed out that there is already an asset declaration process in place for cabinet members, and the important thing is who should be monitoring the process.

NONE Low ( right ) said he was issued asset declaration forms for himself and his immediate family members as soon as he joined the cabinet for submission to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

"If you put it in public, there is the issue of public security of the person who had made the declaration, but the main thing is who is monitoring it. As I said, a copy of the declaration will be given to MACC," the outgoing Transparency International - Malaysia president said.

When studying asset declaration policies in Eastern Europe, he said he learnt that one of the issues was of talented people rejecting ministerial positions as they did not want to expose their family members to public scrutiny and face security risks, rather than any actual graft.

"We saw that some with the potential to be good ministers did not want to take on government posts purely because of that. So there are two sides (to the argument)," he said.

Difference between formal and informal

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and publicity chief Tony Pua had both previously called on Low to deliver on several measures to ensure greater transparency in the government, including public asset declaration.

When reminded that Penang and Selangor state exco members had already declared their assets publicly, Low said this was a positive move but the process was ‘informal'.

This was in contrast to a ‘formal' asset declaration process where laws would be in place to penalise officials who fail to declare their assets, or if the declaration is significantly inaccurate in reflecting a person's wealth.

In addition, he said there would be government agencies monitoring and auditing the declarations under this system.

"I would like to see it to be more formal than informal," he said, adding that this would be among the issues he would bring to the cabinet.

On what if his colleagues reject his proposal, he said, "We make a lot of proposals.

"If they reject, there must be good reasons, but I hope if they believe in coming on board to fight corruption, then... if your wealth is acquired legally, that should not be an issue."

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