KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 ― The timing of Putrajaya's plan to set up the National Consultative Committee on Political Funding is not nearly as important as the goal of the said committee, Datuk Paul Low said today.
The minister in the prime minister's department who has been put in charge of the committee said it would not be possible to get anything done if the federal government were to wait for the “right” time.
“I don't know whether there is a cart or there is a horse. As far as I am concerned, we need to transform the political institution,” he said when met on the sidelines of a seminar here.
“The timing is right or not right is not important to me. My focus is the door is open and I just take this opportunity to make the change.
“If I were to think if the cart is before or after the horse, I don't know when (it can start),” he added.
Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the formation of the committee to gather input for a law to regulate political funding, saying this was necessary to ensure the country practised “healthy” politics.
Najib denied the idea was a result of the furore over the RM2.6 billion donation deposited into this personal accounts, and said the panel was a follow-up to his pledge to regulate political fundings in 2009.
The Malaysian Bar, however, stressed that the formation of the panel on political funding was premature as investigations are still ongoing on the RM2.6 billion donation deposited into the prime minister’s private bank accounts.
Malaysian Bar President Steven Thiru noted that the committee will end up saddled with the perception of being a tactic to divert attention from the funds and debt-laden 1 Malaysia Development Berhad, adding that the regulatory body for legal practitioners will not participate in the panel.
Low today acknowledged that it is the Bar’s prerogative to decide whether they want to be part to the committee, but stressed that he cannot wait for the “right” circumstances to fall into place before proceeding with the plan to “transform the political institution”.
Low also shrugged off criticism by former Higher Education deputy minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah of the political funding committee, saying that his job is purely to rebuild whatever that has been torn down.
Yesterday, Saifuddin took a veiled jab at the Najib’s proposed committee, saying on social media that a committee “to discuss the environment and programmes to plant trees” is being mooted only after “you cut down the entire forest” and have “sated yourself”.
“If I were to be concerned who destroyed the environment, who has chopped up the tree, I’ll be on a blaming game and never quite know whether I should start or not start,” Low said.
“But now they said, ‘Datuk Paul, the concession has been given to you’. So okay, my concession is to go and build the trees up. That’s my only concern.
“And as you said, not only do I build the trees up, I look at society and say ‘you guys come along with me and let’s do something about it’, and make sure it is a meaningful change,” he said.
