Throwing down the gauntlet

THE current hot topic is political donations. Bombarded on a daily basis, especially in the last few weeks, with one sensational revelation after another, the Malaysian news landscape has become a battle zone of politics, politicking and cries of corruption. Trying to separate the wheat from the chaff on what is fact and what is fiction grows more impossible as an incendiary public bays for blood. Every twist and turn of every word and action is relentlessly belaboured and angry commentaries harangue shared spaces, be it social media or social gatherings.

I consulted a senior legal expert for clarification on a few points of law concerning the issue of political donations. Generally, it is not illegal for anyone to donate money to political parties. Secondly, there is no law in our country that makes it illegal to remit political donations either into a bank account of an individual or a political party. However, it is illegal when donations are directly linked to corruption. Public money is prohibited from being channelled to political parties.

Six years ago, under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP), we wanted to tackle the ‘grey’ nature of political funding. In our Corruption lab, we searched for successful examples of political donations so that these could be done without linkage to corruption or abuse of public funds. To increase transparency and accountability, the GTP Roadmap recommended the following proposals based on global best practices:

1. Financial donations to political parties should be made under the names of party accounts rather than individual accounts to ensure transparency and individual integrity.

2. Donations must be receipted so it is clear who are the donors.

3. The accounts of the political parties and the donors must be audited and made available for public disclosure.

Many countries in the world have adopted similar rules to push for greater transparency and integrity. For example, in the UK, every single donation to any political party is recorded by the Electoral Commission. Details of each donation can be seen on its website, including the amount donated and the identity of the donor. In the USA, financial donations to political parties are made to accounts of parties and these amounts declared publicly. If you run a Google search, political donations for President Barack Obama’s last campaign totalling US$1 billion is published with names of donors along with the amounts pledged.

Since 2010, we have tried hard to convince both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat to accept our recommendations. The NKRA conducted open days and roadshows to educate and engage the public and politicians on the way forward for political funding. But alas, there was little headway to be gained at that time.

In 2014, when for the second time our Prime Minister had called for the regulation of political financing, senior Barisan party members argued that to be fair, it should be implemented in tandem with Pakatan. We felt positive about this because at least one side (Barisan) accepted our proposal and the other side, Pakatan may perhaps have been keen to jump on this bandwagon given their stance on governance and transparency. Again, we ended up with no voluntary takers. Clearly, there was no appetite for such a reform at the time.

In retrospect, I believe if both parties had accepted the recommendations back in 2010, we would not be in the current conundrum, with the entire nation suffering a protracted political battle.

There is a silver lining to even the darkest skies. Let us allow investigations to continue so that the truth will be unveiled. We should all avoid jumping to conclusions.

In the meantime, I applaud the statement made by our Prime Minister two weeks ago, for all political parties to declare their source of funds.

He has thrown down the gauntlet. Just last week, the opposition stated they are prepared to support the administration to regulate political funding.

I now urge all parties and politicians to cast aside their political and personal proclivities to accept our original proposal on political funding as laid out in the GTP.

Let it not require any further convincing – the reasons are compelling! I believe there is now a ground swell of public sentiment on the side of our proposal on political financing. All parties should accept the GTP’s Anti-Corruption NKRA proposal wholesale without modification -- lock, stock and barrel. This is the way forward to establish a new standard of transparency and integrity in politics -- an action akin to building a huge wall to prevent corruption arising from political funding and abuse of public funds.

Let us not pussy-foot around what calls for courage and conviction. The trickery to lay conditions and requisitions as grounds to accept the call by the Prime Minister only backpedals efforts and holds ransom the solution towards transparency and accountability in political financing.

My team and I are ready to engage any party and assist in establishing an open and transparent system that will, as the Prime Minister had said, “… curb abuse by politicians who might use their positions to solicit money for personal use”.

Some of the recommendations we had put forward in 2012 include:

1. Increasing transparency of all political funding by institutionalising clear guidelines and audit processes of all part accounts.

2. Enhancing legislation to regulate and govern political parties especially during election campaigns and their funding.

If what has transpired in our country to date is anything to go by, we stand at a landmark tipping point for Malaysian politics.

To fellow Malaysians, we call upon you to support the transformation of political financing. Ask your elected representative to accept these recommendations as we once and for all collectively work to create a strong impetus for more transparency and higher standard of integrity for political donations.

(Datuk Seri Idris Jala is CEO of Pemandu, the Performance Management and Delivery Unit, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department. Fair and reasonable comments are most welcome at idrisjala@pemandu. gov.my.)