KUALA LUMPUR: Public funding for political parties should be introduced in Malaysia to reduce parties' dependence on corporate donors, but a trust deficit in the country’s institutions is hindering its implementation, says the president of Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M).
Dr Raymon Ram said that before public funding is introduced, its implementation must come with clear safeguards to ensure that public funds are managed transparently and responsibly.
"From TI's perspective, we should have it, yes. Are we ready for it? No," he said as a panellist at the Political Financing Reform Forum: Balancing Transparency, Accountability and Democratic Participation, organised by the Legal Affairs Division (BHEUU), Prime Minister's Department, here on Tuesday (Sept 8).
Other panellists in the forum were Institute for Democratic and Economic Affairs (Ideas) chief executive officer Aira Azhari as the moderator; and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) national governance planning division deputy director Mohd Gunawan Che Ab Aziz; Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia secretary-general Datuk Mazrol Nizam Abdullah; and Special Select Committee on Human Rights, Elections and Institutional Reform chairman William Leong Jee Keen.
He said one of the key matters that needed to be established was a clear and publicly understandable formula for allocating funds, including the rationale for providing the funds and how the amount received by each party would be determined.
"Full disclosure on not only how much money is given, but how the money is to be spent, and there needs to be an oversight body, right? As to how the funds are spent, kept, budgeted and whatnot," he said.
Meanwhile, Mohd Gunawan said that in principle, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) does not oppose the implementation of public funding as it has been practised in several countries but the suitability of the model needs to be assessed based on Malaysia's political, economic and demographic conditions.
He said that the proposal for public financing was previously submitted when his team was preparing an earlier draft related to political funding laws, but at that time the government did not agree with the proposal and it was not included in the draft.
Meanwhile, Leong said public funding could help change the perception that elected representatives or the government in power automatically had access to funds to be distributed to the people, while also reducing pressure on political parties to obtain funding from wealthy individuals and corporations.
"Public funding solves a lot of our problems," he also said, stressing that the concept must go hand in hand with building public trust and impartiality to ensure the law was not weaponised against political opponents.
He added that constituency development funds (CDFs) must be distinguished from public political funding, as public funding intended for political financing refers to government allocations to political parties for operational purposes such as paying rent, salaries and party expenses, and not money to be distributed to voters. -Bernama
