According to Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M), this is essential to address concerns that those who donate to opposition parties may face reprisals.
TI-M president Raymon Ram suggested that the identities of those who donate less than RM10,000 per year to a political party be kept under wraps. Only the names of those who give more than RM10,000 annually should be made public, he told FMT.
Raymon was commenting on a recent proposal by Subang MP Wong Chen for caps on political donations to prevent those with money or access to money from gaining control of a political party.
When debating the King’s speech at the Dewan Rakyat, Wong proposed that individuals be allowed to donate no more than RM50,000 each year, with the cap for businesses limited to RM100,000, and RM500,000 for large corporations.
Raymon said that while Wong’s suggestion, if implemented, would be a positive step forward, a RM50,000 cap remains relatively high. “This can still allow elite donors to exert disproportionate influence (over some parties),” he added.
He also called for legal protection to prevent donors from being subjected to reprisals.
“The law should make it a criminal offence for any public official or agency to misuse donor information for retaliation, blacklisting, or regulatory pressure,” he said, citing Australia and South Korea as examples of countries that maintain disclosure systems that protect small donors while preventing foreign influence.
“For example, Australia recently lowered its disclosure threshold to AU$5,000 and is introducing donation and spending caps. (Meanwhile), South Korea outright bans corporate political donations and maintains a well-established regime of disclosure and audit,” he added.
The issue of the proposed Political Financing Bill resurfaced in the Dewan Rakyat recently when several opposition MPs raised concerns over how political financing laws could be enforced.
Wong had argued that the long-delayed legislation must be enacted to curb corruption within political parties.
Meanwhile, Putrajaya MP Radzi Jidin warned that fear of reprisals could lead to funds being channelled disproportionately to ruling parties. His Perikatan Nasional colleague, Kubang Pasu MP Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail, said that major companies already favour government parties and may resist disclosure.
Deputy law and institutional reform minister M Kulasegaran recently said that among the proposals being considered in the Bill are mandatory public disclosure, donation caps, public funding, and donor restrictions.
Pushpan Murugiah, CEO of the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4), said the opposition’s concerns are valid, but the solution is to craft strong provisions rather than oppose the law outright.
“Opposition parties must also realise that the political system be adequately protected from such misuse and abuse,” she said.
“They should throw their weight behind institutional reforms that limit the arbitrary powers of the government and prime minister, such as having more effective police oversight, separation of the offices of the attorney-general and public prosecutor, MACC independence, and the abolition of Sosma,” Pushpan told FMT.
Bersih chairman Faisal Abdul Aziz proposed the formation of an autonomous commission to regulate political financing in Malaysia.
He said the commission members can be appointed by a bipartisan parliamentary committee on political financing.
“The appointment will have to be finalised by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. This will ensure that political financing is regulated independently,” he added.