Malaysia's Parliament to table Bill on political funding

PETALING JAYA • Malaysia's long-awaited law to regulate political funding will be tabled in Parliament this October.

"The Bill on political funding is in the pipeline and we are working to get it tabled during the Parliament meeting in October," de facto Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said on Thursday.

The proposed political funding law will be among the priorities of Parliament when it sits on Oct 26, apart from the tabling of Budget 2023 and a landmark Bill that aims to ban smoking for an entire generation of adults.

The move to get the political funding Bill ready before October comes after Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob recently reaffirmed the government's commitment to its tabling. But he has also said that whether such laws can be ready before the next general election, which has to be called by September next year, remains to be seen.

Calls by civil society for laws on political funding have grown louder in recent months, in the light of several high-profile court cases linked to "political donations".

Political funding laws were first mooted in 2016 by the then National Consultative Committee on Political Financing, but there was resistance from several quarters, including the opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.

The committee had come up with 32 recommendations to address the lack of laws concerning transparency in political funding, including the creation of the office of the controller of political donations and a ban on cash donations from foreign sources. But the proposed Political Donations and Expenditure Act did not make it to Parliament before the 2018 election.

In 2019, PH intended to table political funding laws but its government collapsed in February 2020.

In July, government backbencher Fadhil Shaari submitted a motion to Parliament for a Private Members' Bill on political funding. Proposed moves include setting up a RM130 million (S$40 million) political financing fund, which political parties would be eligible for if they gained at least 2 per cent of votes during an election.

Also included are provisions to cap political donations at RM50,000 if they are from individuals, RM100,000 from companies and RM500,000 from groups of companies per year. Government-linked firms, including certain foundations, would be prohibited from making political contributions.

Mr Fadhil heads the All Parliamentary Group on Political Financing, representing nine political parties in Parliament.

There are currently no laws to regulate and monitor political funds, although there are limits on campaign spending by candidates - RM200,000 for federal and RM100,000 for state elections.

Meanwhile, when asked whether the initiative to table political funding laws in Parliament in October formed part of a memorandum of understanding between the government and opposition on political reforms, Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi said "no". "It is not related to the MOU, but is an initiative by the government under the transparency, governance and accountability programme," he said.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK