Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, wrote in a column with Sin Chew Daily, that he supported a call by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said to regulate funding for NGOs, in the wake of reports that billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations was trying to influence elections in the country.
He said Azalina had suggested the proposed Political Donations and Expenditure Act be used as the basis for regulating NGO funding. He said there were many ideas in the proposed law which could be used to regulate civil society funding.
Wan Saiful was a member of a national consultative committee on political finance, and said that the principles of transparency and accountability should be applicable to everyone.
“If civil society organisations want political parties to be transparent, civil society themselves need to be transparent at the same time,” he wrote.
“I do believe that it is important for those of us who claim the moral high ground to behave morally first. If we want others to be transparent, then we must lead by example and be transparent ourselves.”
However, separate laws were needed to deal with civil societies. He proposed a Charities Commission, which would be a different body to any agency to regulate political parties.
Wan Saiful cautioned that many would be skeptical of Azalina’s proposal to regulate civil society funding. This would not be surprising as politicians have contrasting attitudes about funding.
“They don’t even demand any accountability for foreign funding that they receive but they are always worried about foreign funding when others receive it,” he said.
He said if Azalina was worried that foreign funding was being used to “topple” a government, she should also be concerned about foreign funds being used without any restrictions by a political party to avoid being toppled or to stay in power.
Wan Saiful said the government should address this skepticism by passing and implementing the proposed Political Donations and Expenditures Act and implementing it.