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ELIZABETH WONG'S OPENING ADDRESS AT TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL -MALAYSIA'S NATIONWIDE CAMPAIGN ON REFORMING POLITICAL FINANCING INMALAYSIA

5 AUGUST 2010

A very good morning to all of you,

First of all, I would like to congratulate Transparency International and everyone elseinvolved in putting this conference together. The topic of political financing in Malaysia andhow to reform it, is a timely and important one, especially given the tra nsitional period politicsin this nation is undergoing.

The State Government of Selangor would also like to thank the organisers for extending aninvitation to our Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Dato Seri Khalid Ibrahim. Unfortunately, he is unableto be with all of you this morning and has asked me to represent him.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Corruption undermines many things we hold dear. It weakens democracy and affectsdevelopment. Corruption threatens the human rights of all people, and diminishes theinstitutions and legal frameworks established to protect each and every citizen.

Leakages through corruption, as we all know, seriously affects economic growth. It reducesthe flow of investments, while at the same time, affects development efforts such as povertyreduction programmes.

The culture of corruption has contaminated virtually all spheres of Malaysian life. Moneypolitics, which has aptly been described as the mother of all corruption, is therefore agrowing concern.

The use of money to gain political power will result in an erosion of trust in the legitimacy of

any government and will erode public confidence particularly in the electoral system. Withoutthe confidence of the people, public institutions will become increasingly meaningless andelections less legitimate. Democracy itself would be under challenge.

The Selangor Government has made the fight against corruption its priority agenda. Theintroduction of Integrity Pacts in procurement and the Freedom of Information Enactment Billare major steps taken to promote transparency and accountability in government.

It is probably of no surprise then, that we fully support the reform of political financing in thecountry. Like most of you here today, we believe that political influence cannot be sold t o thehighest bidder.

One of the models we believe would be suitable for Malaysia to emulate is whats being

practiced in Germany.

In Germany, political parties have received public funding since 1958. Any party that hasobtained 0.5 percent of the vote in national elections or 1 percent in state elections wouldqualify for public funds, which can be used for all of the partys constitutional functions,including campaigning.

In addition, the German system still allows for private funding for political p arties, albeit withsensible regulations. Public disclosure of all donations higher than a reasonable amount is arequirement. In Germany, that sum is 10,000 Euros.

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Donations from charitable organisations and from trade unions, professional associations,and industrial or commercial associations are prohibited.

Most importantly, each political party must submit an annual financial statement to thelegislative body. The financial statements must live up to proper accounting practices andare subject to extensive review. The reports are then published as legislative documents.

This is the kind of practice we hope Malaysia will one day adopt.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Selangor Government supports the work of Transparency International Malaysia in itscampaign for reform in political financing, including the financing of political activities,political parties, candidates and elections. We are all familiar with the obscene manner inwhich money is spent during by -elections, a lot of which borders on outright vote buying. It istherefore high time the public is able to scrutinise where political funds come from and howthey are used.

However, a level playing field in politics is central for political financing reforms to beimplemented effectively. Some major reforms are first required such as access to the mediafor opposition parties to create a level playing field in politics. As TI -M has proposed , arepeal of the Printing and Publications Act, 1984 is necessary if we are to see a level playingfield in electoral politics.

Ladies and gentlemen,

On behalf of the Menteri Besar, I congratulate TI -M for its efforts in reforming politicalfinancing in Malaysia. I understand the Selangor state is the first start of the nationaladvocacy campaign to reform pol itical financing in the country. I might be biased, but I canthink of no better place for such a campaign to be kicked off.

Once again, thank you very much and may the conference be a successful and fruitful one.

For more info, please contact:

Brian YapPegawai Khas kepada YB Elizabeth WongTingkat 2, Bangunan SSAASShah Alam, Selangor 40000Tel: +603 5544 -7759+60 16 311-0120www.tvselangor.com www.selangorkini.com.my