DAP parliamentarian Tony Pua believes there is no need for Pakatan Rakyat leaders who hold no executive power to declare their assets.

Pua said both the Selangor and Penang state executive councillors, menteri besar and chief minister have declared their assets as they held in executive positions.

“It is the proper thing to do because they are in executive positions, where powers can be abused to profit themselves individually,” he told Malaysiakini .

“There’s no reason for the other leaders to declare their assets. There is nothing wrong with declaring, but there is no need to.”

Pua further explained that this was so because the other leaders do not hold executive positions. Likewise, they do not have any decision-making powers on the affairs of the government.

“The purpose of asset declaration, as with the best practices globally in countries like the United Kingdom and United States, is that those holding executive positions need to declare their assets.

“That’s the reason why we have insisted that members of the cabinet, including the prime minister, declare their assets so that we can detect if there’s abuse of power,” he said.

Pua was responding to Cheras Umno chief Syed Ali Alhabshee, who had challenged Pakatan Rakyat leaders to “empty their pockets” to prove they are clean, instead of training their guns at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

In a blog posting yesterday, Syed Ali ( right ) had trained his gun on Pua, asking him to set an example by calling on Pakatan elected representatives to reveal their wealth.

Pua’s Pakatan colleagues, PKR secretary general Rafizi Ramli and PAS information chief Mahfuz Omar, have since said they were willing to declare their assets.

Syed Ali thus urged them to do it and not to merely pay “ lip service ”.