PRIME Minister Anwar Ibrahim must set a deadline for ministers and their deputies to declare their assets, Transparency International-Malaysia president Muhammad Mohan said. 

Mohan told The Malaysian Insight that the declarations should have happened three to four months after the government was formed. 

“But it is understandable, we can accept it if it is done after seven months in power and we hope the prime minister can set a deadline for them,” he said. 

Mohan added that the declarations must then be published on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) website for a period of five years. 

“As long as they are the government, the declarations must be on the website until the government changes. 

“We do not want it to be like the previous administration where the declarations were on the website for a period of three months. The public should be able to access them for as long as they (ministers and deputies) hold the positions. 

“Another point is that in the declarations, it must be stated clearly how much they own. If someone has RM100 million worth of assets, it has to be stated RM100 million.” 

“It cannot be ‘more than RM10 million’. What does that mean? RM20, RM30 million? It has to be precise,” he stressed. 

Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman recently trained his guns on Anwar’s cabinet for its failure in this regard. 

Taking the matter to Twitter, the Muar MP questioned why this was the case when the unity government had been in power for seven months. 

“I’m asking a simple question. They have been in power for seven months. Why haven’t the cabinet members declared their assets? 

“This is about good governance #PolitikBaru. 

“This has been a practice since 2018. Even shared openly via the MACC website. 

“Why stop this policy? What is there to hide?” he wrote. 

In 2019, then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that all members of the administration including ministers, deputy ministers, and political secretaries would be required to declare their assets to the prime minister. 

He said information would not be concealed and would be forwarded to the relevant agencies to ensure prevention of corruption. 

Meanwhile, Parti Sosialis Malaysia secretary general A. Sivarajan said Anwar might encounter some difficulty in convincing cabinet members to declare their assets since some are not from Pakatan Harapan (PH). 

However, he said PH ministers should at least set a clear example by declaring their net worth. 

“Even back in 2008, when Pakatan Rakyat won in Selangor, the declaration was only made to the then menteri besar. It was not made public,” Sivarajan said. 

“I think it has been said by Rafizi Ramli that each election candidate must declare their worth but there are obstacles for Anwar to convince the others. Some are also hit with graft charges. 

“But at least Amanah, DAP, and PKR can set examples. They can do it first; it is really important because they are the ministers. 

“This has to be the tradition so that the public may know that they do not have excessive wealth,” said Sivarajan. 

He added that asset declarations were in line with Anwar’s efforts to combat corruption. 

“Anwar has been talking about graft and he should not delay this,” he said. 

In November, Dr Mahathir – now Gerakan Tanah Air pro-tem chairman – said he agreed with the practice of politicians declaring their assets, but stressed that it should be done regularly and not just during election season. 

The former prime minister said Dewan Rakyat should also make it mandatory for all MPs to publicly do so. 

“I agree (with asset declarations) but not just when an election is approaching. We should not be selective about the time. This we can do in the House (Dewan Rakyat and Senate),” he said. 

During Muhyiddin Yassin’s tenure as prime minister, the Pagoh MP promised that all Perikatan Nasional cabinet members would declare their assets within a month after coming to power. 

But none had done so after 100 days of holding office and MACC’s asset-declaration website for ministers and MPs was now inaccessible. 

Opposition members and anti-corruption activists told The Malaysian Insight this showed that Muhyiddin’s government was unable to assure the public that it was against corruption or that it believed in transparency. – July 9, 2023.