KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 — Amid a mystery RM2.6 billion donation to Umno from the Middle East, a group of retired senior civil servants called on Putrajaya today to ban political funding from non-Malaysians in future.
The group dubbed G25 lauded the government initiative to legislate political funding in efforts to make the process more transparent but warned that these wealthy and powerful foreign sources may be seeking to shape the country’s future policies for their own benefit in return for their financial aid.
“Although there is nothing wrong about political donations, there is also a need to address public concerns whether the donations are a genuine show of support from the donors and if these donors are companies and powerful corporate individuals, there is always the suspicion fairly or unfairly, that their donations are linked to cronyism, favouritism and worse, corruption.
“And if the donors are foreign, there is a question whether they have a sinister agenda in getting involved in our politics,” the group said in a statement.
“Donations from foreign individuals and minors should be banned,” they added.
G25, named for the original 25 influential retired Malay civil servants who signed an open letter pushing for religious moderation in the face of creeping Islamisation last year, has more than doubled their membership since and expanded their agenda to include government reform.
The group also urged the government to take measures to level the playing field in political funding, so as not to give unfair advantage to richer parties who could afford to buy votes.
They pointed out that merely making the process of political funding transparent was not enough, but guidelines were needed to protect the integrity of the democratic election process from parties that could afford to “throw a lot of money to get the voters to support its candidates”.
“The whole purpose of holding elections will become a farce if the public sees it as a meaningless ritual in democracy, which is manipulated by the rich and powerful to serve their own interests.
“There is great danger that the whole population may lose faith in the electoral system,” the group said.
Among other measures to legitimise and regulate money politics, the group proposed the government adopt the Australian and British models for its political funding law.
They explained that such legislation will complement the existing Election Offences Act 1954 to define political contribution whether in cash, benefits in kind as well as payments for nominal consideration such as the right to sit at a particular candidate’s dinner table, and “associated entities” which could include businesses owned by the political parties and foundations set up in their names.
In tune with that, G25 also urged the government to give the Election Commission more investigative and prosecutorial powers election offences, particularly illegal political contributions.
They pointed out that the enforcement powers were currently split among three federal agencies, the EC, Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission (MACC) and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, which hampered rather than smoothened the punitive process.
“We need to avoid the victors and losers in an election continually accusing each other of improper practices.
“We believe that through transparency of political funding, the people’s faith in the electoral system can be enhanced,” the group said.
