Malaysia needs Political Funding Act to curb corruption, Klang MP says
SHAH ALAM – Malaysia needs a Political Funding act to prevent corruption and cronyism, says Klang MP.
Charles Santiago said to make political parties accountable, donor information should be transparent and foreign donations to political parties must be limited, such as in Singapore and Australia.
"Transparency International's 2021 Corruption Perception Index ranks Malaysia in 62nd place out of 180 countries, falling five points from the previous year.
"As such, there needs to be a Political Funding bill to prevent corruption, cronyism, and corporate capture by large and powerful entities.
"There must be full transparency on donor details, these reforms may look too ambitious but is crucial to bring back the confidence of the people in the democratic practices in the country," he said in a statement.
Charles also stressed that the maximum tenure of a Prime Minister should be limited to two terms to ensure no prime minister gets too comfortable warming the seat.
"For example, in the US, the presidential elections are held on the first Tuesday of November every four years. In the Philippines, every six years, on the second Monday of May.
"In Australia, the general elections occur every four years on the fourth Saturday in March.
"This would also keep a lid on abuse of powers," he said.
Commenting further, Charles said Malaysia's faith in the integrity of democratic institutions was fading fast due to uncontrolled political movement in the country.
"We saw the democratically elected Pakatan Harapan government being thrown out of power after 22 months, with the political parties that lost the elections successfully forming the current government via the Sheraton Move.
"And at present, a small group of Umno stalwarts, popularly known as the 'Court Cluster' are pressuring Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to call for an early general election.
"Clearly, just like the opportunistic Sheraton Move, the court cluster wants to negotiate itself out of jail sentences and more importantly, to take charge of Umno and government after the next general election," he said.
