Proposal for fair award of allocations to all MPs

AN All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Political Financing has been set up, and a Political Funding Act is in the pipeline, according to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, “AG’s power may be clipped” (The Star, May 20; online at https://bit.ly/3wG22ur).

This law is long overdue, but which aspect of political financing is it mandated to look into? Would it look at how much money is collected, from whom, and how much is spent on campaigning during the official period?

Would this include the cash and other goodies distributed to voters by the candidates and their parties?

Or will it just cover things like the printing of posters, banners, putting up of billboards and newspaper advertisements?

What about political financing of another kind, namely the Executive rewarding their Members of Parliament with handsome allocations while neglecting the Opposition?

From where does the Executive get the power to hand out the allocations in the first place? Neither the Cabinet nor Parliament can act beyond the powers given to them by law. That Parliamentarians are lawmakers does not give them any right to make laws on their own without going through the proper legislative process.

It is well known that the practice of rewarding government MPs while neglecting those on the other side has been going on for a long time. Only in the recent past has the Executive shown its “generosity” by giving a token allocation of RM100,000 to Opposition MPs. However, its own are given RM3.5mil (Peninsular Malaysia) and RM4mil (Sabah and Sarawak), and an additional RM300,000 for service centres. Meanwhile, Opposition MPs are not given any funding for their service centres.

All voters have the same rights whether they support the government or Opposition. They all pay the same taxes. So, if the MP they elect is denied the same treatment as those in government, then they should be exempted from paying taxes.

The APPG should, even if it is not mandated to do so, address this serious discrimination in political financing that amounts to punishing voters who did not vote for the government.

What I propose is that amendments be made to the Members of Parliament (Remuneration) Act 1980 by including a new section (or part) and renaming it as the “Members of Parliament (Constituency Allocations and Remuneration) Act”. The proposal to amend the Act should be tabled at the next sitting of Parliament, i.e. at the same time as the Anti-Hopping Bill. Hopefully, the Bill on Political Financing would also be tabled at that time.

The expanded Act should remove all discrimination and spell out procedures for the fair disbursement of allocations.

Payments should not be made directly to MPs. Instead, MPs should only be allowed to make requests for minor projects or approve grants to societies or associations in their constituencies. The actual payments could be done through district officers who must ensure proper accountability and no leakages.

All citizens are equal under the Federal Constitution, hence all MPs must be given the same allocations just as they are paid the same remuneration under the law.

RAVINDER SINGH

Batu Maung, Penang