The proposed political funding bill must be expanded to encompass also government officials at all levels, making asset declaration mandatory for all civil servants as well as elected representatives.

Prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government had planned to table a “political funding bill” in Parliament, after the anti-hopping bill was passed in Dewan Rakyat.

The bill that has been the talk of the town for years should help reverse the corruption trends rampant in the country, and should have been adopted long ago!

Minister in the prime minister’s department Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said if the Parliament is not dissolved earlier to pave way for general elections, the political funding bill should be tabled for first reading in Parliament in the third week of October, and will be made into law earliest by the end of the year.

The minister also said last week’s meeting tabulated various guidelines, including institutions, GLCs and companies undertaking government jobs are strictly prohibited from offering any political donations, and MPs violating the guidelines could have their eligibility revoked.

Due to the lack of explicit laws governing political donations in the past, politicians receiving political donations have been able to get away largely unscathed. For instance, former prime minister Najib Tun Razak said the RM2.6 billion he had received was a private donation from the Saudi royalty.

Whether you believe it or not, without any proof of criminal activities, Najib will never be officially incriminated and will at best be blasted by the public for moral flaws. Just that!

So long as the explicitly set out political funding bill is not officially adopted in Parliament, any political donations which are evidently bribes offered to politicians by private businesses or companies awarded government contracts, could all become rationalized and therefore legitimized.

Still remember what a prominent local politician once said: I have indeed received plenty of gifts from people, but I have not given them any benefits. So, anything wrong with that?

Well, doesn’t sound like a big issue. As such, we must get the political funding bill passed as soon as possible, or the problem of corruption will never get solved.

Political donations? Are they not just the non-repayable cash, gifts or properties offered by businesses or individuals to politicians in hope of getting something back in return?

It is an orthodox practice in any democracy to enact laws to control political donations. So long as the donation amounts are within specified limits and transparently and clearly recorded with no strings attached, there will be no element of bribery involved.

As such, a clean politician should only receive, directly or indirectly, “fully open and transparent” political donations for the purpose of funding their election campaigns.

Different countries have set different limits to political donation amounts that can be offered to a specific election candidate or political party in one year.

If all the accounts are clearly set out and the donation amount within specified limits, it can be listed just as a “political donation,” if the candidate does not provide any benefit to the donor after winning the election.

Besides, to prevent cross-border money laundering activities, all donations to and from foreign entities must be strictly prohibited, so that the scandal of RM2.6 billion donation with unspecified purpose offered to our former prime minister would not have taken place.

So, will this political funding bill effectively wipe out corruption? Not wholly. Donations in the forms of cash, expensive paintings and jewelries not transferred through a bank are hard to track down.

A couple of years ago, one of the largest corruption cases in the country’s history was busted by the police, when RM54.7 million cash, large quantities of jewelries, designer watches and luxury cars as well as almost 20kg of gold (not including massive amounts of money already remitted overseas) were seized by the police during raids at the houses and offices of former Sabah State Water Department director Awang Tahir Awang Talib, his deputy Teo Chee Kong and other officials.

Apparently, not only MPs and state assemblymen can get rich through corruption, local government officials can do just as well.

In view of that, the proposed political funding bill must be expanded to encompass also government officials at all levels, making asset declaration mandatory for all civil servants as well as elected representatives.

These people who are paid with taxpayers’ money must unreservedly tabulate all their properties and assets before they take office, and again after they have stepped down from office for any inexplicable increase in their net worths.

If the enforcers carry out their job duties faithfully without fear or favor, it will make corruption so much more difficult to thrive in Malaysian politics, so that the effects of the proposed bill can be maximized.