Wastage of public funds and political funding which leads to corruption should be stopped immediately for both the Bukit Gelugor and Teluk Intan parliamentary by-elections, according to Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) today.

“Money politics must be stopped. If our politicians, both in the government and in the opposition, are really sincere about eradicating corruption, they should come to an agreement to reduce expenditure incurred in the upcoming by-elections,” said president of the anti-graft watchdog Datuk Akhbar Satar.

The Election Commission had set a maximum spending of RM200,000 for each Parliamentary seat, but this amount is commonly exceeded and not enforced.

Akhbar urged political parties on both sides of the divide involved in the by-elections, on May 25 and May 31 respectively, to set “proper limits” to keep election expenditure to a minimum level to prevent corruption and misuse of funds.

TI-M said it was concerned about the use and wastage of public funds “if political parties still keep spending their money in the political campaigns through banners, posters, flags, presents, sponsorships and other promotional items.”

The Election Offences Act 1954 provides for the submission of statements of expenditure by political parties and candidates. But the Election Commission (EC) does not have strong mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability in the funding processes during elections, it said.

Reforms laws on political financing

On political financing, Akhbar said that there should be laws governing this perennial issue, pointing out that political parties are now being perceived as the institutions worst affected by corruption based on the latest Malaysian Corruption Barometer (MCB) 2014 findings.

“It is necessary for the Federal Government and all State Governments to ensure controlled and transparent political financing expenditure for campaigning in both the general elections, including by-elections, and even party elections. This is to curb corruption practised within political parties as well as in this country,” he said.

TI-M urged the government to regulate financing for all political parties where all forms of contributions and funding must be channelled to an official party account and not into political candidates’ personal bank accounts.

“This ensures transparency and avoids politicians misusing the name of a political party to ask or receive any contributions for personal gain,” said Akhbar.

He also said that it was “equally important” that election expenses of political parties and candidates are independently audited by certified auditors before submission to the EC and that disclosure is made of all sources of financing and expenditure by all political parties.

The EC, he said, can also initiate reform in this area by setting limits on candidates’ and political parties’ expenditures based on the geographical area of the constituency and size of the electorate.

“This will help prevent or reduce disproportionate spending,” he suggested.

Of integrity and trust

Akhbar said that the EC must act not only to regulate expenditure incurred between nomination day and polling day to reflect all expenses incurred for general and by-elections but also to impose expenditure limits on the electoral activities of political parties and candidates.

“It is sad when political parties, including the opposition, being the driving force of democracy, are perceived to be corrupt institutions,” said Akhbar, urging all political parties to “lead by example”.

TI-M’s recent MCB 2014 survey found that 45% of 2,032 Malaysian respondents ranked political parties as the most corrupt among top six key institutions in Malaysia.

The police still scored a close second (42%), followed by public officials/civil servants (31%), judiciary (24%), parliament/legislature (23%), and business/private sector (23%).