Nothing To Hide Follow Pkr S Example And Declare Assets

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PKR should be congratulated for making its candidates in the general election (GE15) declare their assets. I believe this is the first time a party in Malaysia has done so.
Almost all its 72 candidates have made their assets public, and the rest are expected to do so soon.
By declaring their assets publicly, PKR has thrown a challenge at all other parties to do the same. So far none has had the courage to take up the challenge , which leaves it open for suspicion that they may have something to hide.
I’m sure Malaysians would like to know how much the candidates of other parties have so that, if they are elected to office, there’ll be some assurance of discouragement against indulging in corrupt practices.
For a start, the heads of the political parties should follow the example of Anwar Ibrahim of PKR and declare their financial status for public scrutiny. On Nov 9, the PH supremo declared assets worth RM11.2 million as at last month.
We’d all like to know how much prime minister nominees Muhyiddin Yassin of Perikatan Nasional and Ismail Sabri Yaakob of Barisan Nasional have.
Many Malaysians are looking forward to knowing how much in assets Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Pejuang), Abdul Hadi Awang (PAS), Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Umno), Shafie Apdal (Warisan), Lim Guan Eng (DAP) and Mohamed Sabu (Amanah) have accrued over the years.
Will any of them show courage and do so?
Those who are appointed ministers usually declare their assets to the prime minister. But, given a situation where corruption has penetrated all levels of government administration, this is not enough.
It has not worked in the past, hasn’t it? We’ve heard of ministers having hundreds of millions of ringgit in assets at the end of their terms or midway. One former minister, it was recently revealed in court, had RM1 billion in assets.
Several Malaysian politicians, including then serving and former ministers, were named in the Pandora Papers as among those having offshore accounts, some of which could be suspect. The Pandora Papers refers to leaked documents analysed by an international group of investigative journalists and made public on Oct 2, 2021.
On Nov 10, DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook said the party did not plan to follow PKR, its partner in PH, by making it mandatory for its candidates in GE15 to declare their assets. Many members of the public will be sorely disappointed by this.
Loke said it was a party practice for those who got elected to make asset declarations.
I’d love to hear what the heads of parties such as Umno, Bersatu, PAS, MCA, MIC and Pejuang have to say about this. Nobody has asked them yet, I believe.
On Nov 4, Khairy Jamaluddin of Umno, when asked about PKR candidates declaring assets, replied that the practice was for a declaration to be made after a Cabinet appointment. It was a disappointing response from someone who aspires to be a future prime minister.
Why not change this practice? Why not declare assets when you stand for public office?
Ministers usually say they have declared their assets to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission but today’s public is more intelligent and wants to know how much any people’s representative has in assets and whether this figure rises suspiciously high after a year or several years in office.
If public officials, especially ministers, disclose their assets, it will enable civil society and the media to more effectively monitor and keep in check any possible transgression.
PKR has set in motion a new practice and it will be welcomed by thinking and politically conscious members of the public.
Former Transparency International Malaysia president Akhbar Satar told FMT on Nov 10 that declaring one’s assets would boost a candidate’s credibility and integrity. I can only nod in agreement.
“The aim of asset declaration is to prevent corruption and detect misappropriation of public funds when in power. Declaring assets is a measure to increase transparency and trust in the public administration, preventing conflict of interest, illicit enrichment and proliferation of unexplained wealth,” Akhbar said.
He noted that “a hesitancy” to declare assets likely meant that a candidate had acquired money through corruption and abuse of power.
Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism executive director Cynthia Gabriel said those who had yet to declare their assets likely feared public scrutiny and questions about the sources of their wealth.
Both Akhbar and Cynthia urged all candidates to follow the example of PKR candidates and make asset declarations.
We should applaud Rafizi Ramli, the PKR deputy president, for starting the ball rolling. On Nov 2, Rafizi, who is contesting for the Pandan parliamentary seat, declared RM18.8 million in net assets as at Oct 31 this year.
In explaining why PKR required its candidates to declare their assets, Rafizi said: “We want to be as transparent as possible to show to the public that we can be trusted. It’s about setting a higher standard for candidates – if they wish to serve in public office, they must be open to public scrutiny about their finances.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Pakatan Harapan’s Tanah Merah parliamentary candidate Mohamad Suparadi Md Noor, the wealthiest of the PKR candidates with net assets of up to RM106.1 million, was quoted in the media as saying: “Assets declaration proves my transparency.”
Asking why one should hide his or her assets, he added: “I am concerned that if we win the general election, some will claim that our wealth is from the proceeds of corruption.” Anyone who wants to be a leader, he said, must have the courage to declare his or her financial standing.
I agree with him too.
All said and done, we can assume that any party willing to have its candidates declare their assets will be more transparent and upfront with the public. So, we can expect, will the candidates who later become ministers.
But it is not good enough to just declare assets as candidates. Once elected to public office, they must make periodic declarations – once a year perhaps – for this exercise to be effective. The public should be able to scrutinise information about their assets and sources of income.
Some mechanism could perhaps be established to verify these declarations by comparing earlier declarations or against information such as tax declarations.
Such an exercise is good for the government too as, by enhancing transparency and integrity, public trust in government and government institutions will rise. That certainly means a more stable nation, leading to greater prosperity. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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