MORE than half of all people surveyed recently agree that declaration of assets by lawmakers should be mandatory, the UCSI Poll Research Centre said today.

The centre, run by UCSI University, said 54.5% of respondents surveyed said they agreed with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) proposal to introduce a new law making the declaration of assets by lawmakers compulsory.

The survey involved 1,015 Malaysians queried between May 20 and 29 this year.

The findings also showed that 61.1% of those who took part in the poll said the act of declaring assets was a powerful “anti-corruption tool”.

It added that only 29.9% of them knew that the nation had yet to implement a law compelling lawmakers to declare their assets.

UCSI Poll Research chief executive Assistant Professor Dr Noppadon Kannika said the results were positive, despite 38.9% of respondents saying declaring assets was a threat to privacy.   

“This is a good sign for the era of open power. All lawmakers should accept the proposal. As a result, people will have trust in politics and power management in Malaysia,” Noppadon said in a statement.  

“This survey clearly indicates that Malaysians want their representatives to be transparent and free from corruption.

“The introduction of a new law to compel MPs and assemblymen to declare their assets will certainly boost confidence amongst voters and eradicate corrupt practices,” Noppadon said.  

He added that having every lawmaker declare his or her assets would reflect positively among politicians and subsequently improve the country’s rankings in global transparency lists.

Last month, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said the Special Cabinet Committee on Anti-Corruption will urge opposition lawmakers to declare their assets.

He had said this would be initiated after the proposal is brought to the Dewan Rakyat speaker.

Currently, there are no laws compelling lawmakers to declare their assets in Malaysia.

It was, however, reported that the MACC was considering amending the MACC Act 2009 to allow for this or to introduce new laws pertaining to assets declaration.

At present, Pakatan Harapan lawmakers have voluntarily declared their assets, highlighted on the MACC’s website. – June 1, 2019.