PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli set a record by becoming the first Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate in the general election (GE) to declare his assets publicly.

After declaring his assets, Rafizi went on to challenge the other two major coalitions Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) to do the same for all their candidates.

But this is a pointless challenge when declaring assets is not compulsory under the law for election candidates.

It is only compulsory under the law for elected MPs and appointed Senators to do so upon their appointment as Cabinet ministers.

You can’t say your rival candidates are lousy for not doing something which is not compulsory. It is as simple as that!

When a reporter who was at a press conference that Rafizi organised on November 9 grilled him on certain aspects of his asset declaration, he became agitated and accused the reporter’s employer, MalaysiaNow, as being a mouthpiece of Azmin Ali, a Bersatu supreme council member.

According to the MalaysiaNow report, Rafizi then repeatedly belittled the reporter, suggesting that he was not well versed in finance.

“That’s why I said go back and try to understand finance, because I just explained it just now about share capital. You don’t get it, do you? I have already answered your third question. Did you get it?” Rafizi said, somewhat peeved at the reporter.

To make matters worse, Rafizi concluded that most people (reporters) present at the press conference would “not understand any of these things.” 
 
When Rafizi declared his assets, I initially thought it was a brilliant strategy to “force” both BN and PN to do the same because at that time I was unsure about the legal status of asset declaration by election candidates.

I was also aware that asset declaration for election candidates who contested for the first time and then lost is an embarrassment for them because their financial records would be known publicly for the rest of their lives.

Later, when I realised it was not legally compulsory to publicly declare assets and that Rafizi was not the first to do so as Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) had done so during GE14, I thought it was a brilliant strategy because it is politically incorrect to reject asset declaration even though it was not
compulsory.

This is analogous to criticising an election candidate for his spouse or children’s participation as candidates because there is no legal impediment to prevent their participation despite whatever reservations one may have on the matter.

Just look at former Johor Bakri MP, Yeo Bee Yin, who was criticised by a civil society group because her in-laws possessed “vast business interests” in Puchong, the constituency in Selangor that the DAP had moved her for GE15.

The civil society group criticised her for an alleged conflict of interest of “major proportions” because she is the spouse of one of the country’s key business leaders despite the fact that her spouse is not a candidate in this GE.

Even if this lost-his-cool incident did not happen, Rafizi’s so-called brilliant idea of throwing a gauntlet to his opponent on the issue breaks into pieces when two PH component parties, DAP and Amanah, have different ideas on the issue of candidates’ declaration of assets, as reported by Malaysiakini.

Amanah vice-president Mujahid Yusof Rawa said the party leaves it to its candidates to decide on this, stressing that all its candidates have declared their assets to the party, which is not a public declaration.

While DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, said DAP candidates only have to make public asset declarations if they win in the polls.

As to rival coalitions, PAS had said the move is unnecessary as it could lead to negative implications.

The party’s vice-president, Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah, quipped that the party’s leaders are not wealthy and are thus embarrassed to declare what little they have.

Its PN partner, Bersatu, shares the same stand. Azmin Ali dismissed asset declarations for candidates as “sandiwara“ (drama).

BN’s Sungai Buloh candidate Khairy Jamaluddin said it is unnecessary for candidates to declare assets publicly, and this only needs to be done if one is appointed to public office.

MIC, Gerakan, Warisan, PBM, Pejuang and other Gerakan Tanah Air partners, PRM, and Sarawak parties have thus far held their tongue on the matter, perhaps fearing a backlash for saying something that may be politically incorrect.

It is very clear that Rafizi’s motive in bringing up the issue is to score points in order to make his political opponents be on the defensive which could result in their losing the election.

But he forgets to put his house (Pakatan Harapan) in order first before issuing this gauntlet to his political opponents. So PH could end up losing the election instead due to his actions.

If he had been sincere and saw this as a matter of principle, he would have pursued this issue a long time ago or at the very least, when he made a political comeback some months ago.

But he was never associated as the person who struggled for the cause of election candidates’ declaration of assets or the first person to come out with such idea like Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s (PSM) president, Dr Michael Jeyakumar.

If one wants to make declaration of assets by election candidates compulsory, one must have a game plan that takes into account the current legal aspect of the issue, and then only proceed with a plan of action on how to get the buy-in for it among all political parties that will finally lead to its promulgation into law.

Rafizi does not have such a plan. – November 13, 2022.

* Jamari Mohtar reads The Malaysian Insight.

* 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.