The impending Sarawak elections offer great challenges and opportunities for free, fair and honest elections. One of the biggest threats to free, fair and honest elections is political corruption, the “mother of all corruption”. Transparency International has tried to tackle the problem of corruption in political financing, by building public demand for transparency and integrity, and empowering civil society to monitor political financing, to improve transparency and accountability. Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) has conducted research on political financing in Malaysia, by interviews with past and present politicians such as Tun Mahathir Mohamed and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and engagement with stakeholders such as the Election Commission (EC), Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), politicians, academicians, political analysts, companies, civil society, journalists, university students and the general public. TI-M also organised validation workshops, a roundtable discussion, and a national conference for consultation with stakeholders. These activities culminated in a book Reforming Political Financing in Malaysia (in Bahasa Malaysia and English), which serves as a basis for reform and an advocacy tool to generate public support to address the issue of political corruption. TI-M also undertook a nationwide advocacy campaign through workshops where stakeholders in various states were consulted. TI-M has proposed 22 reforms to improve transparency and accountability in political financing, under three major themes: Institutional Reforms, Legislative Reforms and Media Reforms. Among our proposed reforms, and of immediate relevance to the impending elections, is equal and free access to public media for all political parties.
TI-M calls on all relevant parties, such as the political parties, the Election Commission (EC), the Malaysian Anti-corruption Corruption (MACC), the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP), media (especially those controlled or owned by Government or political parties), to come together to show that Malaysia is capable of free, fair and honest elections, towards upholding democracy and the interest of Malaysian citizens. Among other things, the Federal and State Governments could voluntarily refrain from actions that confer unfair advantage, even if not illegal, such as development offers and use of state resources and facilities, and instead promote a level playing field, beginning with equal and free access to public media. Commercial and independent media could give fair and balanced coverage. Political parties should comply with election laws in letter and in spirit, especially expenditure limits. The EC, MACC and RMP can do their part in acting impartially, vigorously and pro-actively without fear or favour, against election and corruption offences.
Issued by
Datuk Paul Low
President, Transparency International Malaysia
