Only RM10m for election expenses? Irrrational, Najib says

(Malay Mail Online) – Datuk Seri Najib Razak has refuted remarks made by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that during his tenure as prime minister only RM10 million had been used for every general election campaign.

News portal Malaysiakini quoted the Prime Minister as saying he had always defended Dr Mahathir but his latest remarks were not rational, as costs for deposits alone for all the constituencies amounted to RM41 million.

“That is already more than RM10 million,” Najib reportedly told the Kepala Batas Umno division earlier today.

“This amount does not include the costs for T-shirts and meetings.

“RM10 million is neither rational nor logical, so I want to correct the situation?” Najib asked.

Former PM Dr Mahathir recently said it is wrong for any party in Malaysia to spend over RM2 billion for an election, and that he needed less than RM10 million for each of five election campaigns during his time in power.

The current spotlight on political financing follows the emergence of some RM2.6 billion cash deposits into Umno president and PM Najib’s personal bank accounts ahead of Election 2013, which the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has recently said came from unidentified donors from the Middle East.

Najib announced on Friday the formation of a bipartisan panel to gather input for political funding legislation that would be headed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low, who is in charge of the integrity portfolio.

Low told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview that the political funding law may prohibit foreign financing, require the public disclosure of the identities of individual or company donors, and mandate that such donations be channelled to political party’s accounts, instead of individual politicians’ accounts.

Political funding is not well regulated in Malaysia, with only laws capping candidates’ expenses during elections.