Aid handed out to people must be in accordance with MP's ability

KUALA LUMPUR - Members of parliament (MPs) handing out assistance to the poor and needy must do so in accordance with their own financial abilities.

Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung said if aid was given to all parties without any limits, the salaries and allocations of existing MPs would not be sufficient, and this would lead to the risk of corruption.

"If there are those who are poor and sick, we must extend help according to our (MP's) abilities based on the salary and allocation.

"It is mandatory to provide help to the people, but just don’t queue up with excuses that they didn’t pay their bills.

"Our (MPs) salaries are not sufficient to pay for such things, and it could lead to a risk of corruption," he said.

He was speaking at the second public lecture titled ‘Corruption as a Political Issue’ at the Tun Mohamed Suffian Auditorium, Universiti Malaya (UM) Law Faculty, on Saturday.

Other panellists were Malaysia Nottingham University Honorary Associate Researcher Dr Bridget Welsh and Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) senior manager Aira Azhari, while May Leong was the moderator.

Lee said that as an MP with the idealism to be a policymaker, there should be awareness for helping the people in need.

"For me, it’s an approach to helping while giving awareness to the people so they know where the agency is for them to seek help," he explained.