Proposed Political Financing Bill to be tabled in Parliament by December, says Wong Chen

-Bernama filepic

PETALING JAYA: The proposed Political Financing Bill will be tabled in Parliament by December of this year, according to the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia (APPGM) on political financing.

Its chairman, Wong Chen, said this was due to the draft for the highly-anticipated bill not being finalised despite the second Meeting of the Third Session of the 15th Parliament to begin near the end of June this year.

"Normally, we would have gotten a draft of the bill by now if they plan to table it by June or July.

"The start of the third parliamentary meeting in October will likely be reserved for the annual Budget.

"This leaves the final week of the third parliamentary meeting in December as the earliest date to table the bill," he said after the launch of the mini-documentary "What's The Big Deal About Political Financing?" here on Wednesday (May 29).

Chen acknowledged public concerns over a bill provision allocating a portion of public funding for political party activities, noting that it would be a small price to discourage outside influence on political parties and corruption.

"It's the same reason government workers must be paid adequate salaries to discourage them from taking bribes and corruption.

"As long as there is transparency with how the funding is spent, parties can survive and take the right path instead of relying on donations and other sources of funding," he said

He added that he expects the bill to get support from both sides of parliament.

"Political parties from both sides now understand the difficulty of trying to raise funds, with both having experienced what it's like to be the opposition," he added.