July 25, 2022
A political economist who previously bemoaned the lack of will to enact a law on political finance now hopes it will see the light of day.
Edmund Terence Gomez said he was hopeful because of the many efforts that had been made over the years.
He said Najib Razak had proposed a Political Funding Act among a set of reforms when he was prime minister.
But the bill was not prepared, even though NGOs had provided extensive feedback.
In 2015, after the 1MDB scandal broke and it was disclosed that foreign funds had been transferred into the bank account of a sitting prime minister, a Cabinet Committee was formed, led by Paul Low, to prepare a Political Funding Act, he said.
Several NGOs, led by the G25 group of prominent retired civil servants, had also presented suggestions for this legislation and although a draft was prepared, a bill was not tabled in Parliament, he said.
He said Pakatan Harapan was supposed to table a similar bill after taking power in 2018 but did not do so before the change in government occurred in 2020.
And while Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had in May said the proposals had been agreed to in principle, Gomez wondered why it was not prepared to be tabled in the current Dewan Rakyat sitting, when at least two drafts of the bill already had been prepared.
“Moreover, we have been asking for a copy of the two draft bills, so that we could help refine the legislation to be tabled,” he told FMT.
On Thursday, the all-party parliamentary group, which comprises MPs and civil societies, said it had drafted a political funding bill for the Attorney-General’s Chambers to review.
Gomez said a law on political finance would be vital in view of the impending 15th general election, which he said would be contentious in nature.
“It is important to level the playing field so that all parties can have a fair election because the volume of money and how they will spend it will have to conform to existing legislation.”
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