Declaration of political funding among reform proposals

KUALA LUMPUR: The need for political parties to declare funds received is among a 16-point improvement to be implemented by the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC).

ERC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said ERC was studying and fine-tuning a report made by the National Consultative Council on Political Funding with regard to declaration of funds.

“Political parties need to declare their money and we need to know its source; it should be recorded and audited. Whoever wants to donate to political parties should do it openly. Even big amounts are all right but we need to know the source and this is part of the proposed improvement we will implement,” he told reporters after ERC’s engagement programme with media practitioners at Wisma Bernama here yesterday.

Other recommendations include the electoral system, the role of the Election Commission, redelineation exercise, electoral rolls, fair media coverage for election candidates and the need for a caretaker government during the election process.

Abdul Rashid said a preliminary report on the proposals would be handed over to the government by the end of this year before the final report is prepared in the middle of next year.