LATE last year, there were talks on properly regulating political campaign financing, but it seems to have fizzled out. So, what has emerged from the discussion which has hit the 1-year mark?

Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low believes that there should be no cap in the spending during electoral campaigns, and instead moots the idea that audits alone would be enough. Talk about setting a low bar.

I disagree with the minister. Allow me to give a hypothetical scenario.

If someone should somehow come up with a humongous amount – let’s say RM2.6 billion – which can be then “donated” to the campaigns in 222 parliamentary seats and the numerous state seats, would an audit be enough to ensure the election was fair?

Obviously not. A cap must be set for each electoral campaign to ensure fairness.  You can’t put a liberal spin on campaign financing with a laissez faire attitude.

It doesn’t matter if the person has additional resources or less. A cap must be set to ensure all candidates are on equal footing. If there is a problem with the amount not being enough, then raise it across the board.

Regulations can leave it up to the party or the candidate to either invest the maximum amount of resources or less. At the same time, a breach of the cap once the election is over should have harsh penalties and not just a fine.

A breach of the cap means that the candidate cheated in the election and should be reflected by a total disqualification, a two-term ban and a by-election.

And yes, donations should be recorded, but not at a floor of RM3,000, but lower to the amount of RM500 and above. This must not only be announced to the auditor but placed in a list online as well for all political parties and can be viewed by the public at large.

At the same time, there should be a total ban on corporate donors altogether in whatever shape or form, including hosting events for candidates and political parties during the campaign period. If people want to donate, they should do so on an individual basis rather than rope their entire staff as backers of a political party or candidate.

A similar stance should be placed on non-government organisations and their appointees. They should not be allowed to stump for any candidate during the campaign period as well, seeing as how NGOs are supposed to be above and beyond politics.

Equality must also be extended via the media, especially state-owned media. There should be no limitation or denial of access for any candidate. A state owned media house should grant access to any citizen to voice their views, and not just those which are pro-government.

Similarly, the state owned media must host three debate sessions between all leaders from each and every political party. But since there are so many of those, I’d grant leeway to allow only the candidates for prime minister.

These should cover policy matters from security and defence plans, the economy, and whatever social issues that should apply. Heck, ask them all about their thoughts on the Beer Fest for all I care.

More importantly, the media should start scrutinising manifestos especially when it comes to three points; cost, cause and effect. All promises on a local council, state or even federal policy should be explained by their promoters on the basis of why it is needed, how much will it cost, where that money will come from and most importantly, what impact it is supposed to have to every Malaysian.

But let’s be frank here, neither side wants to talk about campaign financing and even electoral reform when it comes to money because it would limit their ability to form war chests and dole it out accordingly without a care.

I would bet that making the list of donors public and barring companies and NGOs from being involved will in the end bust every single electoral budget and disqualify each and every single MP serving today. If you disagree, just ask yourself who funded the Pakatan Rakyat truck and bus tour before the last election and how much it cost?

No party is clean when it comes to donations and campaign financing. Well, maybe the Malaysian Socialist Party is, since they may not even have donors.

However, until we discuss proper campaign finance reform as well as equal access, what we are doing is creating more doubt in a democratic system that will eventually cause future generations to lose faith in politics as a whole.

And when such a scenario happens, who knows. Maybe we’ll have a trumpeting prime minister running the country into ruin. – September 22, 2017.

* Hafidz loves to ruffle feathers and believes in the EA Games tag line of challenging everything. Most times, he represents the Devil’s Advocate on multiple issues.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.