THE government’s commitment to enact a law on political financing is timely given the uncontrolled usage of money in politics, the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia (APPGM) said.

“At this time, we are studying the laws that have been implemented in other countries as well as other recommendations that have been put forth by other experts.

“Extensive research on this topic has been done since 2009 by experts who are also members of the APPGM. Thus, we are open to engage and collaborate with the government to ensure that the bill can be drafted and tabled in Parliament as soon as possible.

“The tabling of this bill should not be delayed further and must be expedited for our democracy to mature,” said its chairman Ahmad Fadhli Shaari.

The Pasir Mas lawmaker said that a bill on political financing is a positive step towards protecting democracy from external influence.

APPGM is cross-party platform for discussion regarding the monitoring of political donations between different stakeholders such as MPs, civil society groups and other parties of interest. 

Yesterday, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government has agreed in principle to the proposed enactment of a political funding bill and its policy scope would be tabled to the cabinet soon.

He said the decision was reached at the meeting of the Special Cabinet Committee on Anti-Corruption.

He said the bill was important as there has yet to be any law or policy in the country that regulates the financial activities of political parties. – May 20, 2022.