KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 ― Instead of accusing the Opposition of impeding efforts to make politics more transparent, a Pakatan Harapan lawmaker said the Barisan Nasional (BN) government should include them in its National Consultative Committee on Political Financing.
Three Pakatan Harapan MPs told Malay Mail Online that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s recent remarks apportioning blame was masking the real issue, claiming that there was no real political will to regulate money politics.
“They have no intention on implementing it. They are putting on a political show. They are trying to blame the Opposition and distract from the real crisis at hand,” DAP parliamentary whip Anthony Loke said when contacted yesterday.
The Seremban MP claimed that none of the Opposition parties were invited to be on the panel for the political funding reform.
“Don’t treat us like small kids. This is a bluff. They make it hard for us to support the law and then they will call it off. End of the day, the blame is on us.
“If their actions were sincere, how come none of the opposition leaders are in the committee’s panel?” he questioned.
But Loke also said proposed changes should properly be carried to the bipartisan Parliamentary Committee on Political Funding for a consensus instead of being decided by the National Consultative Committee on Political Financing.
PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said the Opposition was not against a law to regulate political funding, but stressed that it must be well-governed.
“We are supportive of any effort to regulate political financing predicated on sincere and credible political will,” she said.
The Lembah Pantai MP also claimed there was a hidden agenda to the BN’s initiative on regulating political funding now.
“The timing of ostensibly needing the Opposition’s support is again part of the grander plan. So he can effectively reject such a regulation plan and even if we had agreed, it will be used against us,” she alleged, referring to the prime minister.
She accused the government of ignoring the Opposition’s past views when introducing new laws or amending them, naming the National Security Act (NSC) and the Prevention of Terror Act (Pota) as examples of legislation that had been steamrolled through Parliament despite criticism.
Like his PKR colleague, Amanah communications director Khalid Samad conceded that the political funding initiative was a positive step forward, but feared it may be abused unless strict regulatory measures were put in place.
“It is a good law, but first it needs good governance. If they going to implement it now, they are going to use it against all of us,” he said.
The Shah Alam MP called on the government to how it had the political willpower to commit to this reform initiative by first investigating previous questionable political funding cases.
“The government should prove their commitment to clean politics. They should show sincerity by taking action against previous cases like the RM2.6 billion into Najib’s personal account,” he said.
A special panel on political funding on Friday proposed a new law on the matter to curb abuses, but suggested that this may not be in place before the general election after the next.
Among the proposals listed in the Political Donations and Expenditure Act is the formation of an independent oversight body with the power, to among others, confiscate money from unknown sources.
Najib then said in principle BN and Umno had always wanted a more “transparent” system but more importantly, it has to be agreed by the Opposition as well.
BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor meanwhile claimed yesterday that the ruling coalition had mooted the idea even before the last general elections but faced fierce protest from the Opposition.
