PETALING JAYA: The drafting of the political funding bill will be expedited in order for it to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat in October, says law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
In a statement, he said having the draft bill prepared as soon as possible would also enable all stakeholders to be consulted as per the timeline prepared by the Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC).
“This law should be implemented immediately to show transparency and accountability in political governance.”
He said that a memorandum on the bill was expected to be presented to the Cabinet in September for approval prior to the next Parliament sitting in October.
His statement came following a meeting he had with the GIACC, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), the Registrar of Societies (RoS), the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), and the legal affairs division under the prime minister’s department (PMD).
According to Wan Junaidi, they discussed the establishment of a regulating entity for political funding, the types of funding allowed, and the penalties for offences under the proposed bill.
He said that the PMD and the AGC had been instructed to prepare a draft of the bill, taking into account input from NGOs and civil society.
He added that a comparative analysis must also be done to benchmark how other countries have implemented similar laws.
The law minister also asked for the political funding bill to be streamlined with other existing laws under the purview of the RoS and SSM.
Yesterday, Wan Junaidi was reported to have said that the bill was “in the pipeline”, with Putrajaya working on tabling the proposed bill in the Dewan Rakyat in October.
He said the bill was Putrajaya’s own initiative to boost transparency, governance and accountability, pointing out that the law was not part of the government’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Pakatan Harapan.
Political funding, or political financing, refers to how political parties and individual politicians raise money for election campaigns, their daily operations and other activities.
