A cabinet paper on the proposed Political Donations and Expenditure Act (PDEA) is being drafted, which would pave the way for the set-up of a technical committee to draft the new law.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low said he had finished consultation on the new law with all political parties several weeks ago, and the preparation of the cabinet paper is the next step forward.

“We have met all the political parties, the last one was DAP. So we are in the process of preparing a cabinet paper. Once it is approved, we will set up a technical committee for drafting (of the bill).

“We hope (to set up the committee) by this year. It is very hard to be specific (on the timeline), because it takes time,” he told Malaysiakini when met in Kuala Lumpur last night.

The PDEA is one of 32 recommendations of the National Consultative Committee on Political Financing chaired by Low.

Among others, the proposed law would remove spending limits for election candidates, but impose new rules meant to enhance transparency in political financing and spending.

It would also ban anonymous donations and foreign donations, which would be confiscated by the ‘Office of the Controller of Political Donations’, a new position to be created under the proposed law.

The committee had targeted the 15th general election for full implementation of the PDEA, but for the 14th general election, it aims to require the identities of political donors to be disclosed to the controller.