‘Give MACC, EC more clout’
By Patrick Lee, Free Malaysia Today
PETALING JAYA: Enforcement and government agencies need to be given more power if they are to combat money politics and political corruption.
Former Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) president Ramon Navaratnam said these bodies needed more bite to tackle graft, especially during elections.
“If they don’t have the power, then create that power,” he said, referring to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Election Commission (EC).
“The MACC and the EC should be doing this (tackling corruption). They should be given the power to enforce the guidelines for the provisioning of funds during elections.”
On many occasions, the EC said that its job was to manage and not enforce elections. It also claimed that instances of corruption during elections came under the MACC’s purview.
At the same time, the MACC does not have the power to prosecute individuals or parties guilty of corruption. That task, however, rests in the hands of the Attorney-General.
Navaratnam said political parties did not need to tell the public where they got the funds from to run their election campaigns.
“Right now, political parties can get away with murder over political financing,” he said.
He added that individuals and companies must declare their donations to political parties and these parties should provide records of their expenditure during their campaigns.
Government must get serious
Navaratnam, the former MACC Corruption Prevention Panel chairman, also said that it
was pointless to have guidelines against graft if there was no enforcement.
“There need to be a declaration on what your donations are. And also enforcement over this matter,” he said.
He added that guidelines already in place against illicit political financing were not enough to combat corruption.
“The guidelines that are in place right now are not comprehensive, are not tight enough and are not enforced. There should be guidelines for the provisioning of funds during elections.”
