By C4 Center
On 2 September, Perikatan Nasional (PN) chief whip Takiyuddin Hassan stated that the government had laid out several conditions for Perikatan Nasional (PN) MPs to be able to receive financial allocations for their constituencies, through a proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and the opposition.
Among the conditions is an obligation for all members of the opposition to declare their assets – a condition Takiyuddin has criticised on the basis that opposition MPs are not part of the government administration.
The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center) demands that asset declaration requirements should apply to all MPs, and should not be used as a tool for political manoeuvring.
Asset declarations are a vital aspect of clean and transparent governance. In principle, politicians must not use their office for personal gain or the accumulation of wealth for their political parties’ interests.
Therefore, asset declarations are a crucial way in which politicians, as representatives of the electorate, can be held accountable and be subject to public inquiry should there be unjustified or disproportionate wealth in their possession. They further serve as a deterrent factor against these acts.
Most importantly, asset declarations should be undertaken by all MPs, regardless of party affiliation, to revive public trust in our parliamentary process.
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However, the use of the asset declaration requirement by the “Madani” (civil and compassionate) government as a bargaining chip undermines the governance principles above.
Far from being a non-negotiable process that all individuals who enter politics must undertake, it is now being used as a symbolic demonstration of “loyalty” to the current administration. Even worse, that loyalty is rewarded through funding for opposition constituencies.
A more serious question subsequently arises: why have unambiguous demands for asset declaration been made against the opposition if the government has not yet imposed those same obligations upon themselves?
If the government truly believes in the effectiveness and need for asset declaration, why has the process not been formalised in law for all MPs?
The evidence pointing towards asset declaration here being employed cynically to score political points against the opposition is even harder to deny.
The only way in which a demand by the government for the opposition to declare their assets can be principally justified and viewed in good faith is if all government MPs also declare their assets as a precondition to enter the MoU. Anything short of full disclosure from the Madani government will be seen as hypocritical.
Furthermore, how does the government expect the opposition to declare their assets outside of a regulated framework?
The government certainly believes that an optimal framework exists as they have been studying its constitution and implementation since the start of 2024. So asset declarations falling short of that would necessarily be seen as inadequate or insufficient for the purposes of transparency.
On the other hand, if the government already has a structure of asset declaration in mind that would be imposed upon members of the opposition for this MoU, it begs further questions as to why that structure cannot be equally introduced across the board for all MPs and made enforceable in law, or at least be publicly announced?
On the other hand, the PN opposition representatives cannot pretend it is an unfairly maligned party in these events, as their statements reveal their own antagonism towards good governance and transparency.
Takiyuddin Hassan questions the practice of imposing an asset declaration obligation, stating it was normally only applicable to members of the government administration.
This aversion towards asset declarations demonstrates their own belief that as members of the opposition, they are somehow exempt from those principles.
It must be stated in the strongest of terms that this is a fundamentally mistaken and flawed belief. Transparency is not a qualified obligation based on formalised notions of who holds power and who does not. The selective application of transparency obligations is ultimately a failure of good governance.
Even though the opposition does not hold the reins in Putrajaya, its MPs can and should elect to declare their assets voluntarily – a good practice that should be normalised for anyone entering public office and as a confidence-booster for the electorate.
Mandatory asset declaration law?
The past few years have witnessed a serious decline in the possibility of introducing a mandatory asset declaration law for MPs.
After the 2018 general election, the Pakatan Harapan government introduced a national anti-corruption plan for 2018-2023, under which a mandatory asset declaration framework for all MPs formed a strategic goal.
However, during the mid-term review in 2021, initiative 1.2.9 of the plan was amended from, “To introduce a written law on the declaration of asset and interest by Members of Parliament” to initiative 1.2.6: “To undertake a study on the viability of a written law on asset declaration by Members of the Administration and Members of Parliament.”
Earlier this year, the national anti-corruption strategy for 2024-2028 replaced the anti-corruption plan. Strikingly, any mention of an asset declaration law is absent from this strategy, including under the appendix titled “NACP Initiatives That Could Not Be Completed as of December 2023”.
Instead, the strategy only makes mention of introducing an interest and gift declaration mechanism under sub-strategy 2.12: “To introduce a mechanism for declaration of interest and gift by members of the administration and members of Parliament.”
While it was reported earlier this year that a special cabinet committee on national governance had agreed to introduce a new asset declaration framework for MPs and members of the federal administration, there have been few updates as to its progress.
Furthermore, as a mere framework, it is likely that asset declarations will not be mandatory and lead to the same discrepancies of transparency amongst MPs observed currently.
With the evident willingness of the current government to use asset declaration requirements as a bargaining chip for political manoeuvres, renewed calls for an asset declaration law for all MPs must be made.
Therefore, C4 Center strongly calls for the introduction of an asset declaration law applicable to all MPs that would provide a clear framework for declaration and public access to this information. – C4 Center
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