In the first part of our initiative, we focus on regulating political financing. We were part of a coalition to produce a guideline entitled “Pengubahsuaian Untuk Kewangan Politik yang Telus and Bertanggungjawab di Malaysia. In the second phase of our work, we produce a report entitled Understanding Cross Border Corruption and Money Laundering: The 1MDB Chronicles Exposed”.
In October, the Political financing committee formed by Najib released its report and recommendations. There were some good ideas generated, such as a ban on State Owned Enterprises donating to political parties etc. but the most worrying part was the “no cap” rule of political donations. Much debate was generated from this and the parallel proposals put together by the coalition of NGOs that we a part of, released our recommendations and reports as well, generating even more debate on what is best to save Malaysia from deep rooted corruption stemming around political financing. The official proposals are now sent to the Cabinet to discuss on the next course of action. The NGO and civil society coalition has gone a few steps further by engaging the ‘giver’ of the donations, mainly the business sector.
Together with G25 & C4 Center, we met with the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturing (FMM), and lobbied for their support. It was good progress when they had their own press conference and reiterated support for the proposals and recommendations, and called for an end to secret donations, hailing instead a more enabling and better regulated industry of political financing laws in the country. The report entitled “Understanding Cross Border Corruption and Money Laundering: The 1MDB Chronicles Exposed” for the first time collate all players involved in the 1MDB Scandal into a single report. The report received international attention and this continues to put the spotlight on Prime Minister Najib Razak’s grand corruption.
This report was jointly prepared by P Gunasegaram and a team of experts.
To view the full report, please click here.
