KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said announced that a nationwide roadshow will begin to gauge public sentiment on the proposed Political Funding Bill, aiming to gather input from voters who typically donate to political parties.
She said she would be meeting party secretaries-general today, after which the law department would be commissioning independent universities to conduct in-depth studies on issues raised regarding the proposed Bill’s content.
To expedite the process, she added that the law department is also planning to organise town halls to gather additional public feedback.
“So I think it is interesting. So the roadshow that we are doing is very, very important now. But I want to see more public responses. Not necessarily politicians. Although the law will benefit politicians more, but there are three things I raised; political parties, politicians and election campaigns. So these are three levels of donations that usually happen.
“Sometimes you don’t run for elections, but you get the money because they (public) support your vision as the party, or they support you as a person. So we have to study all variables.
“I think the public should have some serious opinions about this,” Azalina said in a press conference today, after meeting stakeholders to discuss the proposed Bill.
“I think the public should have some serious opinions about this,” Azalina said in a press conference today, after meeting stakeholders made up of civil society movements and political party representatives, to discuss the proposed Bill.
Azalina said that in the meeting, all stakeholders had agreed to not permit any form of donations from foreign entities.
“My biggest concern now, which I am quite happy about, is that everybody agreed that we should not allow foreign donors. Foreign influence or foreign donations. We shouldn’t, because we don’t want to be controlled from the outside,” she added.
Asked if the Bill could be passed and enacted into law before the next general election, Azalina indicated that it would be an uphill task.
“Unless we do it step by step like I mentioned. I don’t know if the Cabinet wants to look into the state level first. I seriously cannot tell you now. We all know there are so many recipes to make the cake. Which is the best recipe now?
“My position as the law minister, I think I need the public’s participation,” she said, adding that voters may have varying concerns and perspectives regarding the Bill, since each jurisdiction faces unique issues shaped by its own demographics.
Malaysia currently does not have any laws governing the contribution of funds to political parties and politicians.A political funding legislation was first proposed back in 2015, in the wake of the contentious 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.
By 2022, progress had advanced to the point where the former National Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption was tasked with drafting a Political Financing bill for parliamentary consideration.
However, things came to a standstill when the GIACC was dissolved during the governmental transition in late 2022.
