To gift or not to gift - a guide for world leaders

To a question from Malaysiakini whether it is ethical for a national leader to accept valuable gifts, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak justified it by saying that leaders of other countries had received valuable gifts as well.

Specifically, he said, the late Saudi ruler King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Saud had given millions of dollars to former US First Lady Michelle Obama, while Abdullah’s successor King Salman also gave millions during a state visit to Indonesia.

“So some of these monarchs in certain countries, it's part of their culture to give costly items.

“For example, items given to me by these monarchs, I have not used them. I have kept them because I don't use very expensive things as my friends know. I don't use any watches that contain valuable stones,” Najib told Malaysiakini in an interview last week.

However, Indonesia and the US, in fact, are among countries that have laws and protocols for handling such gifts. These protocols are specifically aimed at avoiding the perception of impropriety, especially when the gifts comprise valuable items.

For this instalment of KiniGuide, we see what happens after certain world leaders unbox the gifts they can’t keep.

United States

The US Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act stipulates that US federal employees and their spouses (which includes the president and the first lady) may only receive gifts of “minimal value” as a souvenir or mark of courtesy.

What “minimum value” means is adjusted for inflation every three years, and amounts to US$390 (RM1,578) in retail value, and below, as of January last year.

While gifts above that value must not be received and rejecting them would cause embarrassment, US federal employees can receive the gifts on the US government’s behalf.

In practice, this means gifts to the US president and first lady are handled by the US Department of State’s Protocol Gift Unit, which receives gifts on behalf of all White House and Department of State officials.

The unit maintains a record of those gifts, including its estimated value and also publishes a list of those gifts annually. The last of those lists was published in 2016, meaning there is yet to be a list for the current administration of Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, the 2014 list mentions a “diamond and emerald jewellery set” and a “diamond and pearl jewellery set” given by King Abdullah to Michelle Obama. These are valued at US$560,000 and US$570,000 respectively.

As with most gifts to the US president and the first lady, both jewellery sets were
handed to the National Archives and Records Administration where they may be put on public display.

However, US presidents are known to occasionally purchase the gifts intended for them from the US government out of their own pockets.

Indonesia

Article 12B of Indonesia’s “Law No 20 Year 2001 on Corruption Eradication” considers any gifts to civil servants or state officials (including the president) to be bribery, if it is received due to their position but has nothing to do with their with jobs.

This is unless the gift is reported to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in 30 working days, which would decide whether the gifts should be declared as state property or whether the recipients can keep them.

This law gained some notoriety when Indonesian President Joko Widodo - a metalhead and a fan of the rock band Metallica - received an autographed double-vinyl album box set featuring the band from Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen last year.

He reported the gift to the KPK, which then declared it as state property. However, he then purchased the album from the state in February this year for Rp 11 million (RM3,000).

According to various media reports, Joko (photo) and other Indonesian officials had likewise reported gifts from King Salman and his entourage’s visit to Indonesia last year to the KPK, which included gilded sabres, knives, clocks, watches, rings and pens.

Australia

Australia’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet publishes guidelines on
receiving gifts that apply to the prime minister, ministers, secretaries, their families, and staff.

It stipulates that they may only receive gifts from governments up to A$750 (RM2,230), or up to A$300 (RM892) from private and industry sources.

They may keep gifts believed to be valued below that limit. However, gifts above that limit must be declared within 28 days, and they must seek a valuation within that timeframe if the value of the gift is in doubt.

MPs and senators would also be required to file separate declarations to either the House of Representatives or the Senate.

If the prime minister or other officials wish to keep their gifts that exceed the
allowable limit, they must pay the difference between the value of the gift and the applicable limit, plus a goods and services tax (GST) of 10 percent.

Otherwise, if they do not wish to keep the gift, it may be loaned to the minister’s or parliamentary secretary’s offices or other government buildings and must be returned to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet upon their retirement or change of government.

The gift may also be transferred to places such as museums or galleries, donated to a non-profit group or charity, or some other manner deemed appropriate by the department.

Malaysia

At a press conference on June 8, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he had instructed the Prime Minster’s Department to enforce a no-gift policy, whereby the only acceptable gifts would be flowers, fruits or fruit items.

He said anything more than that would be rejected, though it is unclear whether the rule also applies to state gifts.

Mahathir also told reporters that the government is formulating rules on this, including those that would govern asset declaration and gifts. -Mkini