LETTER | Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) is encouraged by the prime minister’s bold actions requesting all Pakatan Harapan parties to get cabinet approval for any political donations.

Currently, Malaysia does not have any law on political contributions. The alleged corruption case of RM2.6 billion donation that was deposited into the former prime minister’s personal bank account, has already ignited a debate on political funding during his administration.

There is increasing evidence that corruption and unregulated donations are exercising undue influence on politics and undermining the integrity of elections.

Despite the National Consultative Committee on Political Funding (NCCPF) being formed in 2015, and the Political Donation and Expenditure Act being recommended by the committee, the NCCPF’s recommendations have yet to be translated into legislation as there was no political will to do so before the 14th general election.

The high profile raid that took place at former prime minister’s house netted a staggering RM114 million in cash and some RM200 million worth of jewellery.

Umno has now claimed that the money seized by the police was part of the party’s campaign funds. The Malaysian public has for far too long tolerated corruption, and the law reform on political financing is essential to curb this evil. All forms of contributions and funding must be channelled to an official party account and not into political candidates’ personal bank accounts.

The financing of politics has to be published as an independently audited financial report every year, fully disclosed publicly, and made subject to effective governmental and social oversight mechanisms.

Such reforms will continue to increase the public’s trust in democracy and political parties by promoting transparency and accountability in political financing.

We would like to reiterate that the “Promise 18” in the Harapan manifesto is to create a political financing mechanism that has integrity – hence the composition of key institutions such as the Election Commission, needs to be reviewed to ensure that their institutional autonomy is preserved and to be enhanced on their independence, transparency and integrity.

In addition, legislative reforms must be undertaken to allow for a new legislation that includes the provisions for disclosure of the sources of financing and expenditure by political parties.

Governments should regulate political donations, expenditures and needs tighter regulation and enforcement effectively.

We understand that the new Harapan government will progressively take necessary steps to implement all the proposed reforms as embodied in the Harapan manifesto. We hope that this particular reform will take priority. There is clearly an urgent need to better control political finance.

AKHBAR SATAR is the president of Transparency International Malaysia.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.