YOURSAY | ‘Harapan must drain the swamp instead of administering quinine.’
Dominator: So Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says that all Pakatan Harapan lawmakers will declare their assets to the MACC?
The Umno/BN government did the same thing, and did anything change?
Malaysian: Politicians in other major countries, including India, declare their income and assets publicly. Why hide behind the MACC? This is not the reform we are looking for.
Buat Apa: Yes, it’s not good enough to declare assets and incomes to only MACC. I don't entirely trust the agency, given its history and record of having been a tool of the regime.
People should demand that all lawmakers declare their assets and incomes every 12 months to a registrar under the scrutiny of an independent ombudsman, and that the registrar to made completely accessible to the public.
No politicians should be willy-nilly trusted until the country is clean of official (and unofficial) corruption. Of course, the latter will never happen.
Anonymous_1528196127: Why stop at Harapan lawmakers? What about the civil service heads, government-linked company (GLC) heads, top officers in the police and Immigration Department and the judiciary, since corruption is so rampant?
Hopeful123: In some countries, all civil servants have to declare their incomes and assets annually to the chief secretary of the civil service.
They are also to declare any debts from illegal sources like ‘ah longs’ (loan sharks) that may reflect negatively on the government if the borrowers are unable to service such loans.
This kind of declaration will also help check on lower levels of employees who have amassed money and properties beyond their legal incomes. The spouses' declarations must also be included for an added level of transparency.
Sulaiman Bin Che Long: Mahathir will do two things. He needs members for his party Bersatu and he needs money. He will assimilate some from Umno, poach some from Harapan, and he will need to create a slush fund.
He did it before with Petronas, and he will do it again. He laid the groundwork for that by hollowing out the Finance Ministry. So don’t go gaga over moves that Harapan had promised to do anyway, like declaring their assets; just be observant and make sure money is not stolen again.
‘Great grandpa’ is good at that. In fact, he was the grand architect of the whole system, which former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak was only found out for because he’s not as clever.
The scheme was hatched by Mahathir and taken in extremis to its logical conclusion – if not by Najib, it would’ve been by someone else.
The prime minister has no grand vision, that much we know. I look forward to him meeting Zakir Naik again to show how desperate he is to recruit more members!
In any case, fellow Malaysians. Brownie points will be scored, and while you are all rapt with praise, he will transfer public money-making entities to cronies.
Anonymous_1527658987: Declaring assets is one thing, but what if someone lies? This is where a free press comes in.
The press should investigate senior civil servants and politicians to see if their lifestyle comports with their income and declared assets.
Not Convinced: But a free press will find it hard to keep the politicians honest if the declaration is kept secret. Make the asset declaration public! This is not the ‘new Malaysia’ that Harapan promises.
Quigonbond: It's not that difficult to regulate political financing. Most important is to aggregate the donations and publish material donors after due audit so that the public knows who donated to the candidate or party, and hence what the said political party or politician will actually stand for.
Redmann: By all means necessary, Harapan must drain the swamp instead of administering quinine. I doubt if extra legislation will cut it, as the MACC has enough in its arsenal to level charges against transgressors of the law.
Justice: The tycoons in Sarawak are rumoured to give millions to state BN parties in every election.
BN candidates flew by helicopter during the campaign period but the payments for rental or use of the helicopters were never accounted or stated in the election returns submitted by the BN candidates after the election.
Further, the BN ministers keep distributing or approving instant projects during the campaign period. Yet MACC and the Election Commission just kept quiet. There is no point in enacting good laws if the enforcement is lacking.
Anonymous_db56f03b: I agreed. We can see the rot seeping into the US system with members of Congress allowed to accept donations from corporations and special interest groups. We now see more lawmakers without integrity compared with previous years.
These same lawmakers are also involved in subjugating the rule of law to suppress the FBI investigation into President Donald Trump. We can do without such unethical behaviour in our Parliament.
Dingo Starr: Funny, didn’t Najib try to introduce this very legislation? And weren’t the then-opposition opposed to this move, saying that their corporate donors would be singled out? We saw this happen with the attacks on tycoon Robert Kuok.
In any case, I support the playing field being levelled – both sides not being able to take millions from rich businesspersons or indeed, ‘Arab princes.’
But what has escaped scrutiny so far is the over RM100 million war chest Tabung Harapan Malaysia (is the clue is in the name in the sense that the money is for Harapan?).
Read news stories from the past month closely, and you’ll see all sorts of shady businesspersons – even a previously banned multi-level marketing (MLM) company which I won’t name here – giving cheques worth millions to the fund.
Will there be any transparency with Tabung Harapan? Will they list out all the donors, so we can see which (if any) corporate interests stand to benefit from their donations?
Anonymous_5ae3931f: The opposition back then (now the government) had to grapple with the real concern of their sponsors being singled out by Umno/BN for political persecution. Mahathir himself confirmed that his friends were told to "stop being his friends."
Sentinel: One of the more interesting issues regarding political financing legislation was the point made during the past administration that it didn't receive the support from the then opposition.
The funny thing about legislation is you can just table it and have the lawmakers debate and see where the chips lie when put for a vote.
I hope that the current administration would just draft it, and table it for debate and consideration. Some pieces of legislation should just be tabled as votes of conscience. - Mkini
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