Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) has urged the government to create a public registry that reveals those who own Malaysian companies by proxy.

Its president Akbar Satar said the greater transparency that this creates would help curb corruption and money-laundering, as well as creating a stronger investment climate.

“We have many cronies, yes? This programme has been practiced in the UK and Denmark, so I think we can follow their strategy - how we can curb the illicit outflow of money and know who are their real owners,” he said today.

Akhbar ( centre in photo ) was speaking to an audience of civil servants, anti-corruption activists, and media personnel, after announcing Malaysia’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score for 2014.

The registry of beneficial owners is one of seven recommendations that TI-M is proposing to further improve its ranking.

Earlier in his presentation, he had revealed that Malaysia’s CPI ranking had improved by three places, from 53 out of 177 countries to 50 out of 175 countries.

Another area that requires improvement is political financing. However, Akhbar lamented that political parties have done nothing on this issue despite repeated urgings from the NGO.

He said following engagement with political parties, TI-M had released a book on political financing in 2010 that contained 12 recommendations.

“However to date, the suggestions have not been taken up. Although the government had promised to (reform) political financing, to date they just kept quiet.

“We hope that with this appeal, the government would implement the reforms for the betterment of the people, the society, and the future of this country,” he said.

To a question, he clarified that he was referring to all political parties, whether from BN or Pakatan Rakyat.

Among the recommendations, which concern how political parties receive and spend money, include urgings for political contributions to be channelled directly into the party’s account instead of individual accounts, and for the all political contributions to be recorded and audited.

TI-M’s other recommendations include:

  • Require politicians and government officials to declare their assets, including by amending Section 36 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act that bars the commission from requiring an asset declaration from someone without initiating a corruption investigation.
  • Participate in the Open Government Partnership, which is an international organisation promoting transparency.
  • Practice open tender in all government procurement, and publish all contracts online including those awarded through direct negotiation.
  • Establish a taskforce under the Auditor-General’s Department to work with Integrity Units of each ministry, with the power to intervene if something is amiss even though no complaint is lodged.
  • Spearhead an ‘Asean Anti-Corruption Action Plan’ when Malaysia takes over as chairperson of Asean next year.
‘Keep pressuring the government’

Meanwhile, Pemandu director for the National Key Result Area of Anti-Corruption Ravindran Devagunam, who was among the audience, welcomed all the suggestions.

He urged civil society groups such as TI-M, the Bar Council, and others to keep pressuring the government to step up its efforts to combat corruption.

“This is something that we need civil society to keep pushing back. It is one thing for Pemandu to (pressure for) this on a yearly basis, but until such time that civil society really give the pressure back, it doesn’t get easier.

“We need to work closely with civil society, pushing forward some of the agenda, and we completely agree with the agenda that Datuk (Akhbar) has put forward,” he said.

Ravindran added that in his past five years in Pemandu, he has “gone in circles” on the issue of political financing, although Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak did promise changes to political financing in 2012.

He said Pemandu is now studying amendments to the Societies Act to make political financing more transparent, and possibly the MACC Act as well.

Meanwhile, former TI-M president Ramon Navaratnam complained that the NGO has been making similar recommendations year after year, and the government’s many initiatives to combat corruption were superficial and had not made an impact.

Although he lauded Malaysia’s progress through the CPI rankings, he said the small improvement is disappointing and urged TI-M to create its own index to track how the government is responding to its recommendations.

Malaysia's graft index ranking slightly better