HITCHES were expected when cabinet members and government lawmakers declared their assets for the first time but not coming clean on all their assets seems like a pitiful attempt at being transparent, said an anti-graft group.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) asset-declaration portal only displayed the income of cabinet members and MPs, who voluntarily made the declarations. 

The information does not include other assets like properties or vehicles.

“It is not an asset declaration, by the way,” Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism executive director Cynthia Gabriel said.

C4 was disappointed and urged Pakatan Harapan to come clean on its promise that its lawmakers will declare all their assets and hold nothing back, Gabriel said.

She said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng did a more elaborate asset declaration when he was Penang chief minister.

The Penang government executive councillors, including the chief minister, declared assets which included their properties, vehicles, shares and bank deposits.

“The salaries from two months do not say much about the wealth of the MPs. These loopholes and flaws should be rectified.

“We have seen in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal and other scandals around the world that a lot of wealth is transferred to the spouses and children,” she said, adding that the assets held by their immediate family members should also be included.

The MPs must show that they have nothing to hide and are willing to do this for better transparency and accountability, Gabriel said.

There is also nothing wrong for MPs to be rich, as some of them are professionals and businessmen, she said.

“Declaring their assets will show that they are coming in now with a certain level (of wealth) and won’t be getting rich on public funds while they serve. That is the point.”

Overseas assets  

Aliran president Dr Prema Devaraj said the disclosures should not be limited to monthly income or allowances but should include assets and investments, whether held locally or overseas. 

Disclosures should also be made annually to show wealth has been accumulated during a person’s tenure of office.

The incomes should also be broken down to show the different sources, she said.

“It is necessary to itemise the salaries, allowances, fees and perks the ministers, MPs and assemblymen earn as chairpersons or directors of government-linked entities as well.

“The idea behind the declaration of assets by high-ranking public officials is to prevent corruption, illicit enrichment and conflicts of interests. It allows for transparency and accountability,” Prema told The Malaysian Insight.

She said consideration should also be given to what extent all the information on the reps’ wealth be made public.

MACC chief commissioner Mohd Shukri Abdull said earlier “we are merely preparing the platform for the government” when asked why the portal only provided monthly incomes and not the rest of the information declared.

The MACC Act, Shukri said, will include a new provision to make failure to declare assets an offence. The bill will likely be tabled next April.

Couldn’t care less

Gabriel also highlighted a “great concern” over the “tidak apa” (indifference) attitude of Pakatan Harapan MPs, who did not bother to submit their asset declaration forms.

The MPs showed that they did not take the instruction from Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad seriously, she said.

“We need a legislation to compel all who hold and use public funds in the line of their work (to declare their assets). This is the kind of structural reform we need.”

PH’s 14^th general election pledge that all members of the Dewan Rakyat, Dewan Negara and government officials ranked Jusa C and above must declare their incomes and assets was good, but more needs to be done to compel those in positions of power to go through the exercise, she said.

As of 10.40pm yesterday, MACC’s asset-declaration portal listed only 94 MPs out of the total 117 as having listed their wealth.

As for the cabinet, only 44 ministers and deputy ministers, including Dr Mahathir, have declared their assets. Eleven others were not on the list.

Ministers missing from the asset-declaration list include Mohamad Sabu (Defence), Salahuddin Ayub (Agriculture and Agro-based Industries), Khalid Samad (Federal Territories) and Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof (Entrepreneur Development Minister).

Deputy ministers not on the list include Kamaruddin Jaffar (Transport), Chong Chieng Jen (Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs), Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik (Tourism, Arts and Culture), Dr Shahruddin Md Salleh (Federal Territories), Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad (Local Government and Housing), Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin (Primary Industries) and Dr Md Farid Rafik (Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department).

Gabriel also said the National Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption (GIACC) and MACC, which were handling the asset declarations, should step up and explain the reasons for the delays in revealing the information.

The declarations were only uploaded on Thursday in the MACC-run portal, after the date to publicise the declarations was postponed from October 1 to October 15. – November 3, 2018.