DAP’s Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming says Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan's proposal to blacklist firms that support pro-democracy group Bersih is a sign that Putrajaya’s proposed political financing law would also be abused.

“Declaring (source of political funding) is good, but it can be abused like how Rahman wants to blacklist companies that support Bersih on grounds that they supposedly want to overthrow the government.

“This is a good example of how it can be abused and go after those who do not support the government including opposition supporters,” Ong said on TV1's Demokrasi talk show broadcast live.

Also present in the talk show was Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Razali Ibrahim who is also Umno’s Muar MP, PKR’s Indera Mahkota MP Fauzi Abdul Rahman and Parti Amanah Negara’s Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad.

Ong added that another example was the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, which was meant to facilitate rallies but had been abused to prosecute NGOs and opposition leaders.

However, Razali said accusations should not be levelled against the government even before the political financing law was in place.

“That is an allegation... the law is not even in place but we’re already being accused,” he said.

Razali also pointed out that only 28.6 percent of political parties actually reported their finances to the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

He added that the government was prepared to look into the opposition’s proposals but the opposition should not set pre-conditions.

“If there are too many pre-conditions then it isn’t going to happen,” he said.

Razali also addressed the other panellists’ complaints that opposition MPs did not receive government funding.

He said that consideration could be made for the funding to be placed under Parliament and make it a requirement for all MPs to receive them.

He also denied that the money Umno received was from government sources.

Razali also concurred that the government cannot announce projects during an election period.

“We have a caretaker government. We can’t make a new budget during this time. What was instructed by (former prime minister) Abdul Razak (Hussein) is still in place today,” he said.

Razali was responding to Fauzi, who served as the Alliance’s election secretary when Abdul Razak Hussein was the prime minister.

“Razak said the source of our funding can come from anywhere but we cannot announce any projects.

“We cannot promise (to voters) to build bridges and other things. That was in 1974,” he said.

Meanwhile, Khalid proposed that the government provide grants to political parties as a first step toward political financing reform.

‘Start with gov't grants’

“We can start with grants to all political parties. Other things such as declarations by individual and corporate donors can come in phase two or phase three.

“As least then the government can tell the political parties they have taken government funds and therefore must now reveal their books,” he said.

For now, Khalid said the opposition agreed with political financing reform, in principle, but was not confident that the government will not persecute its donors if they were to declare their donations.

He added while the proposed reform outlined that donors should be protected from discrimination, other indirect means can be used to persecute them.

“For example, denying them government projects or contracts,” he said, reiterating that Rahman’s plan to blacklist Bersih backers was a good example.

The programme was moderated by Sayed Munawar Sayed Mohd Mustar.