IPOH, July 29 — Perak Umno assemblymen’s willingness to declare the assets to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) alone is already good enough for the people, says Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu.

“As long as there is a declaration, I think the people will agree that this is good, even though they don’t want to submit it to the state speaker,” he told a press conference after the “Jasamu Dikenang” programme at the Meru Casuarina Hotel here.

“The speaker is only facilitating the process of handing over the asset declaration to MACC.

“So if the Umno (assemblymen) wished to not respect the state legislative assembly speaker, who am I to teach them as they have been the government for 60 years. So if they failed to understand that the institution should be respected... what can I say,” he added.

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On Saturday, Perak Umno chairman Datuk Saarani Mohamad said that all Umno assemblymen will only declare their assets to MACC and not the speaker despite a motion was passed in the recent state assembly siting, that all assemblymen should declare asset and submit it to the speaker and MACC.

Saarani, who is also the state Opposition leader, said that this is because the state speaker does not have executive power and it is against the power separation doctrine among the constitution, executive, and judicial.

Saarani also previously said that there is no assurance that Ngeh will not use the information from the asset declaration in his political speech, as he is a politician.

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Last Tuesday, the state legislative assembly approved a motion which compels all assemblymen and their immediate family to declare their respective assets.

The state assembly is the first to follow a similar move by Parliament, where all members, as well as their families, are required to declare their assets.

The motion, tabled by Pasir Bedamar assemblyman Terence Naidu, was approved after receiving the support of 31 out of 59 assemblymen, who debated the motion.