POLITICAL FUNDING BILL : 20 ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS CONDUCTED BY BHEUU

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 (Bernama) -- The Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department (BHEUU) has conducted 20 engagement sessions with various stakeholders as part of the process of drafting the Political Funding Bill.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran said that 12 of the sessions were held at the state level, involving a total of 1,544 participants comprising federal and state government officials, political party representatives and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

“Among the key feedback received were issues related to public funding for political parties, the need for public disclosure of party financial reports, limits on permissible donations, and the categories of donors who may or may not contribute,” he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a question from Suhaizan Kaiat (PH-Pulai) on the progress of the government’s proposal to draft a Political Funding Act aimed at enhancing transparency.

Kulasegaran also said that a public perception study is currently being conducted by a research team led by the International Islamic University of Malaysia, together with representatives from NGOs and civil society organisations (CSOs), and is expected to be completed by Feb 28.

He said the findings from the stakeholder engagements and the public perception study would be consolidated to form the policy parameters of the Political Funding Bill, which would then be referred to the Dewan Rakyat Special Select Committee (JKPK) on Human Rights, Elections and Institutional Reform.

In addition, Kulasegaran said the government is examining practices in other countries that have successfully implemented comprehensive political funding laws covering all aspects of political financing.

-- BERNAMA