KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — The federal government today reaffirmed its pledge to make political funding more transparent, but said the Political Financing Bill is still being refined and could be finalised soon although no exact timeline was given.
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran said the government is continuing to collect public feedback, while a bipartisan parliamentary committee is reviewing the Bill amid growing calls from the Opposition to table it.
“If you ask about commitment I can say this government is committed beyond than 100 per cent,” Kulasegaran said during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat, responding to an Opposition MP’s question on whether or not the government would follow through on its pledge to regulate political donations.
The push for the Bill gained momentum following the 1MDB corruption scandal, which highlighted the lack of oversight regarding large-scale donations to political parties and personalities.
The first formal move was the formation of the National Consultative Committee on Political Financing in 2015, which proposed 32 recommendations.
Past administrations have expressed their intent to table the Bill, but legislation has been deferred due to changes to the government.
