PETALING JAYA: The government must act more quickly on its reform agenda to address allegations of money politics, says the G25, a senior and eminent former civil servants.
The G25 said it was encouraged by the work that the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia on Political Financing had done so far in its discussions on the Political Funding Bill.
“We hope their deliberations will continue without further delay to arrive at an early consensus to make our democracy a respectable one. Political funding is the root cause of corruption in many countries. Several countries have taken the necessary steps to reform the way donations are made to political parties to ensure transparency, accountability, and integrity,” it said yesterday.
The G25 said the Political Funding Bill was important to make it possible to regulate political donations in a proper manner.It also hopes the proposed Government Procurement Act and the legislation on public sector procurement of goods and services would be expedited and passed in Parliament.
“This is an important Act because much of the political abuse in government spending happens through the award of contracts to political favourites and cronies, involving over-pricing of contracts at the expense of the government budget,” it said, adding that the new Act will ensure that there are proper procedures to avoid the deliberate mismanaging of the country’s finances.
