Paulsen, who is also Lawyers for Liberty executive director, claimed it would be “extremely” difficult for civil societies that deal with “hard hitting” issues such as free and fair elections, deaths in custody, and freedom of the media to raise funds locally.

“If the PDEA draft were to come in, we could expect it to cause a lot of difficulties to NGOs that rely on funders,” he said.

He believed that there was nothing wrong in receiving funding but what mattered was how the money was used.

“Of course if you’re receiving money for terrorist activities then that’s a different story. But if money is coming in to fund free and fair elections, fund media freedom, fund police accountability then how can that be an offence?”

He also accused those in power of the tendency to misuse existing laws, adding that it would most likely be the same should the PDEA come into effect.

“We’ve seen how laws are being applied and you know you won’t be able to get fairness and transparency when it comes to the application (of the PDEA).”

Umno Wanita chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil in her winding up speech today urged Putrajaya to expedite the implementation of the proposed PDEA to curb “foreign intervention in local politics”.

Paulsen, however, said it was “bizarre” that Umno was concerned about foreign funding and foreign interference.

“By Umno’s own admission, they have received billions from some unnamed Arab funders and according to them it is being used for many things including the elections.”

Meanwhile, Bersih 2.0 (West Coast) vice-chairman Jay Jay Dennis accused Putrajaya of failing to lead by example.

“They are operating in a ‘do as I say’ instead of a ‘do as I do’ approach.”

He said that most civil societies relied on funding from foreign groups to operate and that unless the federal government was willing to take over the funding, the PDEA should not be implemented.

“That’s the way forward and if that does not happen then it’s pretty clear that Putrajaya is saying adios to media groups and NGOs.”

Shahrizat: Speed up donations Act to curb foreign intervention