KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 — Umno’s Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah suggested today restrictions on those who are allowed to collect contributions for political parties to improve transparency.
The Kelantan prince, popularly known as Ku Li, called for more transparency on political funding so that influential people do not give excessive donations to get contracts, after Putrajaya announced that legislation regulating political financing would be tabled next year.
“It’s time we looked at new ways – don’t allow just anyone to collect money for the party; money that’s supposedly for the party, but it may not end up going to the party,” the man who had once challenged Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the Umno presidency and prime minister post told reporters at his Raya open house here.
“I think it’s not fair if political parties can’t make it because they’re not influential or because they lack funds,” he said, adding that he used to be an Umno treasurer who had been tasked with fundraising for election campaigns.
The current spotlight on political financing follows the emergence of some RM2.6 billion cash deposits into Umno president and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts ahead of Election 2013, which the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has recently said came from unidentified donors from the Middle East.
Najib announced yesterday the formation of a bipartisan panel to gather input for political funding legislation that would be headed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low, who is in charge of the integrity portfolio.
Low told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview that the political funding law may prohibit foreign financing, require the public disclosure of the identities of individual or company donors, and mandate that such donations be channelled to political party’s accounts, instead of individual politicians’ accounts.
Political funding is not well regulated in Malaysia, with only laws capping candidates’ expenses during elections.
