Saddiq: New ways, new law needed to regulate political financing

Gazetting the long-mooted law on political financing would help resolve the issues that cropped up during the Bersatu annual general assembly last month, according to Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman. 

The Bersatu Youth chief said this to reporters today, adding that the outcry following party vice-president Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman's call for the use of government resources to secure political support should not be dismissed outright. 

"We have to understand where they come from. And it is important for us to come up with a comprehensive political funding act.

"I think their concerns scream for a larger solution, which is that we must set new standards for political funding," he said.

Syed Saddiq, the youth and sports minister, said this after attending the International Day of Persons With Disabilities celebrations at the Paralympics Centre of Excellence in Kuala Lumpur.

New sources of funds

Noting that political entities require funds to operate, he said that Bersatu Youth is also looking into new sources of funding, besides being committed to the regulation of political donations.

Without regulation, he added, a "race to the bottom" with politicians testing the limits on obtaining and using funds could ensue.

"Who dares to take more risks will be 'rewarded' because they will gain popularity.

"And then there will be more people who follow their lead."

Several months after assuming federal power, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said a new bill on the regulation of political financing would be drafted and tabled in Parliament, although no time frame was set for the plan.

Under the previous BN administration, then-minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low spearheaded an initiative to table the Political Donations and Expenditure Bill. 

The bill, however, did not reach Parliament before the 14th general election.

'I feel okay'

Rashid's controversial remarks at the Bersatu AGM were in response to Syed Saddiq's own speech, where the Youth chief ticked off delegates demanding government contracts and positions.

Rashid, the former Election Commission chief, received a standing ovation from delegates after making the remarks.

It was later revealed that several Bersatu division chiefs were plotting Syed Saddiq's ouster for his speech.

Asked today whether the matter had been resolved, Syed Saddiq said: "I feel, Insya Allah, okay."

He also reiterated the Bersatu leadership's stand that Rashid's remarks are his own and do not reflect the party line. - Mkini