Political analyst Mohamed Mustafa Ishak said all political parties should declare their source of funds, as a measure to prevent corruption.

However, safeguards were needed so that opposition supporters were not victimised by the federal or state governments, and government supporters did not get benefits for doing so.

In response to a comment that opposition parties opposed laws on political financing, including the need to declare sources of funds, Mustafa told FMT that some donors who support opposition parties would naturally not like the idea of being known, for fear of reprisals from the ruling federal or state governments.

“It is a legitimate concern, but so is the concern that some parties are receiving money from illegal or foreign sources, as some have claimed,” he said.

“If we are objective and see it from all perspective, then declaring the sources of funding is a good thing as it works two ways as companies who support the government will be under heavy scrutiny from the people.”

Federal and state governments would find it harder to justify awarding contracts to their supporters as it would appear that there are elements of foul play involved.

Mustafa, who is heads the political, security and international affairs council with the National Council of Professors, said laws should be introduced to protect those who funded opposition parties, while those funding the government did not benefit for doing so.

He added it was important to remember that while Barisan Nasional (BN) controlled the Federal Government, opposition parties such as Pakatan Harapan and PAS were in control of three state governments, hence the proposed reforms affected all parties.

Universiti Malaya political analyst Awang Azman Awang Pawi said many big businesses would be afraid to back the opposition parties for fear of being persecuted.

He said one question would be which model would be chosen on which to formulate the reforms.

“As an example, Taiwan has some very strict political funding laws. Companies which are recipients of government tenders are not allowed to become political funders.”

“If this was implemented in Malaysia, then it may cause difficulties for the BN as many big companies in Malaysia get projects from the BN-led government.”

Awang Azman, who is a sociocultural analyst, said that religious organisations in Taiwan were also barred from making political donations. Such a restriction would be a stumbling block for religious-based parties in Malaysia.

He said Malaysia should develop its own model. What was crucial was the political will to ensure clean and fair elections.