Political parties in Malaysia are
registered with the Registrar of Societies who ensures they are run
according to their own rules and regulations. Among other things, the
members of each party shall elect the office-bearers according to the
party constitution and each party's Receipts and Payments Account,
Income and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet are filed with the
ROS yearly.
We know for sure, political parties
need money to run their activities and political campaigns. They
rely on donations from party members and supporters. On the ground,
each branch is expected to organize fund-raising or charity dinners
or other events. Each branch is expected to contribute to its state
body as well as the national body. I would presume all big donations
to the party are received at state or national level.
Political contributions or donations
are deemed legal. Yet, the issue is not as simple as it seems.
In a recent controversial case, what we have witnessed so far is an
admission by Federal Minister, Nazri that the Rm40 million alleged to
be for CM of Sabah, was actually for Sabah Umno. He further added
that political donations are legal, alluding to the fact that there
were donations to federal opposition parties like PKR, PAS and DAP as
well. But his explanation was far from satisfactory, especially when relevant incontrovertible evidence was revealed elsewhere which necessitated an official statement. Even a Sabah Umno state leader said he was unaware of such a donation! So we can presume this particular amount has never been shown in Umno's accounts thus far.
There is no dispute about political
contributions to political parties. But in Malaysia, the big
difference seems to be overt contributions to the ruling BN coalition
parties like Umno, MCA and MIC, but anonymous contributions to the
opposition parties. The political reality is such that if you are a
businessman, you worry over openly supporting the opposition for fear
that your business licences and/or business deals with the government
departments or GLCs might be affected.
It would be nice to have full
disclosure of all forms of political contributions. But strangely,
though we have been an independent nation for 55 years, this
financial aspect of political support has been hazy and hardly
transparent and accountable, at least not to the general public. The
information is privy only to the leaders (and members?) of each
party, unless a search is done at the ROS. But what we get there
would be the minimum required for filing purposes.
As far as Umno is concerned, being the
power ruling Malaysia since independence, it was able to make use of
its position and power to have a symbiotic relationship with crony
businessmen. It is a well known fact that the power to distribute
valuable contracts will be rewarded in one way or other by those who
benefited from them. The prominent Umno headquarters in strategic
locations in every state are evidence of their power of choice and
their ability to finance them. Umno, unlike the opposition parties,
does not need financial assistance from its members and supporters.
In fact, the members expect something for nothing.
It would be admirable for the
opposition parties to take the lead on the aspect of transparency and
accountability. But it is not without problems when some financial
supporters wish to remain anonymous. Unless we make a start, we will
never get anywhere. With accountability, it is more concerned with
how the money collected has been spent. Again, in the case of
opposition parties, their main source of funds for operating expenses
is collections at dinners and other events. All these are known
publicly, so their collections and disbursements should be accounted
for. In fact, I would even suggest a standard format of keeping
accounts at every branch and state levels throughout the country.
Perhaps, DAP should take the lead,
especially to walk the talk with its CAT (Competency, Accountability
and Transparency) slogan.
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