TI-M: Compel all MPs to declare assets, liabilities, income to MACC

Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) has called on the government to compel all MPs to declare their assets to the MACC.

Legislation such as the Asset Declaration Act must be introduced to make both politicians and those holding positions of power declare and update their wealth on a regular basis, TI-M president Muhammad Mohan said in a statement today.

"As has been raised before, we need to push for a bill to be tabled in Parliament in the form of an Asset Declaration Act or another similar statute to ensure all elected MPs and appointed senators declare their assets, liabilities and income.

"Those whose wealth has grown significantly within a short period must be compelled to provide an explanation with the necessary supporting information.

"When making these declarations, it is equally important that they must include information related to the beneficial ownership of assets to avoid the practice of colluding with a friendly party to avoid detection," he said.

TI-Malaysia urged Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to push for this asset declaration law as part of the reform agenda to ensure his administration practises good governance and eradicates any form of corruption among elected representatives and senators.

"Some politicians have said that they are reluctant to declare their assets and income for privacy reasons or security concerns, but TI-M reminds all politicians that it was they who chose their vocation.

"Therefore, they have to be mindful that as representatives of the rakyat they are expected to be transparent in their actions by practising integrity at all times. One of these practices is to make full, truthful disclosure of their assets and income when required," added Muhammed Mohan.

In January, Anwar said that the MACC is fine-tuning the asset declaration system for top government officials and described the previous system as a "farce" and did not reflect the true wealth of some of the participants.

"The declaration of assets was a farce in the past because people can have hundreds of millions but declare RM11 or RM12 million.

"We must make sure the parameters are clear. I am in discussion with various agencies, including the MACC to make (the process) transparent," he said.

Pakatan Harapan had promised that all MPs, senior civil servants, government-linked company (GLC) chairpersons, as well as their spouses and close family members aged 18 and above, must declare their assets.

The coalition did not make it clear if this declaration had to be made public.

Some PKR candidates declared their assets prior to the Nov 19 general election, including Anwar, the party president.

In 2018, the first Harapan-led administration required all government MPs to declare their assets and those declarations were published on the MACC website.

However under the next two prime ministers, Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob, there was no such requirement.

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