Efforts to fight corruption

THE Government plans to revamp existing political laws and adopt new initiatives for better transparency in political funding in its effort to combat corruption.

Among the measures considered are disclosure of political donation and spending, a cap on political contribution and on the Govern­ment providing supplementary funding to reduce reliance on private sources of funding.

“We are currently conducting a study to revamp political funding. There is a public perception that Government allocation is being abused by politicians and political parties are too reliant on funding from private sectors,” said Corruption Lab leader Datuk Hisham Nordin yesterday at its laboratory presentation.

Hisham, who is also special officer to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, said other measures included disclosure of disbursement and audit in the spending of government allocation.

Segregation of power and duties between the ministers, secretaries-general and political-secretaries are also being considered, he added.

“Not everyone would like to disclose these details as some of them contribute to parties on both sides of the political divide. It would be quite tough to implement these measures but we are working towards it,” he explained.

There are plans for even the Election Commission, Registrar of Societies (ROS) and other agencies to monitor political funding and spending, he added.

“At one time, we were considering having a Political Party Act. Currently, political parties are under the ROS and they have many other societies to handle. So maybe we should have an Act to oversee political parties only. Then we can actually emphasise more on political funding.

“We would go into details later. We need a mini laboratory that covers political corruption because it is very complex,” he said.

The Government, said Hisham, is also pushing for a Speedy Trial Act next year where high-profile corruption cases are prosecuted within a year.

He said the Attorney-General has agreed in principle on this, adding that a database of convicted offenders would also be set up.

The administration is also looking to make government procurement more transparent by disclosing details in a one-stop virtual centre where a list of planned projects and awarded procurement is displayed, he said.

“We need to stop the practice of the so-called surat wahyu (support letters). We need to have a clear parameter definition of support letters. These support letters cannot circumvent due process.

“We are also looking into the practice of an integrity pact between the Government, and the vendors and suppliers,” he said.