Bills not likely before GE15

Proposed law to regulate political funding not drafted

PETALING JAYA: The proposed law to regulate political funding and separate the roles of the Attorney General (AG) and Public Prosecutor (PP) is not likely to be enacted before the 15th General Election, if it is called this year.

This was because engagement sessions with stakeholders on the proposed laws haven’t been held yet, and both proposals are still at their “infant stage”, said de facto law minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (pic).

“We have to invite experts, parties, civil societies, NGOS and interested groups. We have to engage them before coming up with a draft of the law.

“We are talking about at least another eight to nine months before we can consider this Bill,” said Wan Junaidi yesterday.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said that this was what he had told the Special Cabinet Committee on Thursday.

“We can’t bulldoze these

Bills in Parliament. MPS are well-informed now,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wan Junaidi said that there hasn’t been any law to regulate political funding since the first general election in 1955.

“Our practice is that political parties receive funds which are channelled to the candidate. Many people criticise this mechanism due to corruption and abuse of power by party leaders.

“The idea of the political funding (Bill) came from Barisan Nasional some time in 2009.

“But it was rejected by most people, including the Opposition. So, the Bill never reached Parliament,” he said.

According to Wan Junaidi, there are nine countries which have a political funding Bill in place and his ministry would study them.

“Some countries place oversight on their own election bodies. In our context, that’s the Election Commission.

Wan Junaidi said the same slew of procedures will apply on the proposal to separate the powers of the AG and the PP, with 19 amendments to the Constitution needed. “There are also questions of funding and resources for the new role of the AG. So, this law (separation of AG from prosecution) could take up to a year,” Wan Junaidi said.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had said the scope for the Political Funding Bill would be presented to the Cabinet soon.

He said the Cabinet Special Committee on anti-corruption agreed that the political funding Bill should be put in place to prevent corruption and abuse of power among politicians.

Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had first mooted the idea to regulate political funding in 2016.

In 2019, the former Pakatan Harapan government announced that it would table a Political Funding Bill to focus on the regulatory aspects of political contributions.