Minister: Political funding laws still being formulated

KUALA LUMPUR: Political funding regulations are still being formulated and will not be ready for use in the 14th general election, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low.

He said the proposed Political Donations and Expenditure Act was a complex and completely new Act, which was still being studied by a technical committee, and would later be reviewed by the AttorneyGeneral’s Chambers.

“In Malaysia, there’s no regulation on political financing at all and this was not ideal,” he said during a press conference here yesterday, after delivering his speech at the Democracy in Southeast Asia Conference.

He said existing laws under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission will be used in the meantime.

Low said some of the aims of the new law was to address where parties received their funding from and where it was being spent, while making the information transparent and available to the public.

“Funding is necessary for any political campaign, the question comes down to how much regulation is required,” said Low, who was also on the National Consultative Committee on Political Financing.

He said while private funding was a big concern in other countries, public funding was not favoured by the public whom did not agree with using taxpayer money to run campaigns.

This meant private funding would continue to be used for election campaigns, he said.

Last year, the National Consultative Committee came up with 32 recommendations for the Cabinet to address the lack of laws on transparent political funding.

Among the recommendations was banning foreign donations, for online crowd-funding to be allowed and for political donations, in cash or kind that are above RM3,000, to be declared and audited.

During his speech at the conference, Low said a successful democracy depended on several pillars, including political stability and integrity supported by a free and fair election, plus strong accountability and no corruption.