Dr M: Law on political financing to be drawn up

The Pakatan Harapan government intends to table a bill on the regulation of political financing, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

He told a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Putrajaya that a special team will be formed to draft the bill, which will then be deliberated on by the cabinet.

“Yes, there is going to be a rule drawn up on political funding,” he said.

However, Mahathir provided no timeframe on when the bill will be tabled.

Former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Paul Low, had previously spearheaded an initiative to draft and table a Political Donations and Expenditure Bill, but it never reached Parliament before the 14th general election.

Funding needs regulation

Mahathir said that although political funding is a necessary part of political campaigning, it still requires regulation to ensure it does not veer into corruption.

“Political parties need money and elections cost money. So where is the money going to come from?

“Obviously members and supporters will provide money, but when the supporters are given the right to give money, they might be giving money in the hopes that if that political party wins, they will be favoured.

“That is considered corruption, so it is very difficult to consider what is corruption or not."

The government, Mahathir added, will study how political funding is regulated in other countries – such as in Germany, where political parties derive some of their funds from public allocations, which are disbursed proportionally. 

“But in the US, they have a system of lobbyists who are paid to lobby and influence the government to do certain things for those who have paid money. That to us is corruption, we will not allow that in Malaysia.

“So we are going to formulate a law for political financing in Malaysia which will not involve giving favours to donors,” he said. - Mkini