Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) has proposed several steps to improve transparency and accountability in the funding of political activities.

It submitted a memorandum on the matter, titled "Memorandum on Reform of Political Financing in Malaysia", to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak yesterday.

ti global corruption report 230909 paul low The memorandum is based on research into reforms that it conducted, based on interviews with past and present politicians, including former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

TI-M president Paul Low ( right ) said stakeholders such as the Election Commission (EC), Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), politicians, academicians, political analysts, companies, civil society, journalists and members of the public were also interviewed for the survey.

Low called for the recommendations to be implemented before the prime minister calls for the 13 th general election.

The recommendations include:

  • Funding: It is critical in improving transparency, accountability and fairness in political financing and ensuring that political parties and candidates have sufficient resources to run viable campaigns. TI-M recommends that the federal government provides funding for parliamentary elections, while state governments do so for state elections;
  • The Election Offences Act 1954 should be amended to require a party's election expenses to be independently audited by certified auditors before submission to the EC;
  • Empowering the EC to carry out investigations to verify the financial reports of election candidates;
  • Full disclosure of political party and candidate financing, where it is required by law for them to reveal the amounts and sources of their political financing and expenditure;
  • Imposing control over political donations, with a a limit on amounts Malaysian individuals, organisations or companies can give to political parties. Ideally, companies should be prohibited from making political donations. A full list of non-permitted donors should also be produced; and
  • Equal and fair coverage and access to public media, where political parties and their candidates should have access to all public media, including TV, radio, the national news agency and websites.
Low pointed out that since fighting corruption was high on the government's agenda as a National Key Result Area (NKRA), reforming political financing in Malaysia was crucial as this disease has often been described as "the mother of all corruption".

"TI-M's proposed reforms on political financing are supported by a wide cross-section of Malaysians and are crucial for the future of Malaysia. TI-M calls for the implementation of the proposed reforms before the 13th general election," he added.