IN the midst of all the talk about integrity and democracy in
Malaysia, a practice which is of tremendous significance to both has not
received the attention it deserves. This is the funding of political
parties.
Political parties are not keen on detailed scrutiny of their funding since it does not serve their interests.
Politically
inclined NGOs have also not championed this cause partly because many
of them are aligned to either the Government or the opposition.
And yet this is one area where there is an imperative need for greater accountability, transparency and honesty.
In
this regard, the Malaysian parliament took an important step forward in
April 2012 by accepting the proposal from a parliamentary select
committee to allocate funds to political parties based on the quantum of
seats secured by a party in the general election.
If political
parties draw their funds from an independent public institution directly
responsible to parliament and the state assemblies, the scope for
electoral corruption may be reduced.
Wealthy individuals and corporations may not be in a position to influence elections and politics.
However,
public funding of party and electoral politics need not preclude
private financing of political party activities provided it is governed
by strict rules of accountability and disclosure.
To ensure accountability, it may be necessary to register political parties under a separate law.
At the moment, they are governed by the Societies Act which covers a whole spectrum of civil society entities.
A
law that is specific to political parties will also help to define
their roles and responsibilities – including how they are funded – in a
more transparent manner.
This has become even more urgent today
because the forces that shape the role of a political party and its
electoral performance are no longer confined to the domestic arena.
There are actors beyond our shores who have no qualms about sticking their noses into our politics.
Sometimes their local clients invite them to interfere in our affairs.
I
had a taste of this in 1999 when I was deputy president of an
opposition party, Parti Keadilan Nasional, now Parti Keadilan Rakyat.
A
few weeks before the 1999 general election an emissary of the currency
speculator, George Soros, came to see me in my office in Petaling Jaya
about an alleged request from the de facto leader of Keadilan for
funding for the party in the elections.
Apparently, the de facto
leader’s trusted aide had got in touch with media mogul, Rupert Murdoch,
on his boss’ behalf, about financial assistance for the party.
Murdoch in turn had passed on the request to his friend, Soros, who had sent the emissary on his behalf.
I
told the emissary that Keadilan will not accept funds from foreign
sources and there was no question of Soros or anyone else funding the
party’s election campaign.
That evening I informed the party
president about what had transpired at my meeting with Soros’s emissary
and requested her to find out from the de facto leader, her husband (who
was then in prison), whether there was any truth in what the emissary
had conveyed to me.
According to the party president, the de
facto leader had denied any knowledge of a request to Murdoch for
funding and Soros’ involvement. I believed him and let the matter rest.
However,
since 1999 a lot of evidence has emerged of funds from Soros’ outfits
being channelled to organisations affiliated to, and associated with,
the de facto leader and Keadilan.
A former Keadilan Youth leader has even sworn in the National Mosque that the party has received foreign funds.
In
July 2011, a leader of Bersih, the coalition for clean and fair
elections, admitted that her organisation had received money from Soros’
Open Society Institute (OSI) and the National Democratic Institute
(NDI) which is funded by the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
There
is no need to emphasise here that Soros and the NED have been
hyperactive in numerous countries in almost every continent, in the
pretext of promoting human rights and democracy when their real goal is
the furtherance of the US foreign policy agenda.
The NED for
instance established in 1983 which operates in more than 90 countries
has been rightly described by William Blum, a former US State Department
official and author of Rogue State and Killing Hope as a “Trojan Horse.”
He
observes that the NED does “overtly what the CIA had been doing
covertly for decades, and thus, hopefully, eliminate the stigma
associated with CIA covert activities.”
The NED “meddles in the
internal affairs of foreign countries by supplying funds, technical
know-how, training, educational materials, computers, fax machines,
copiers, automobiles and so on, to selected political groups, civic
organisations, labour unions, dissident movements, student groups, book
publishers, newspapers, other media, etc.”
In the last 10 years
or so the NED has carried out many of these activities in collaboration
with the type of groups mentioned by Blum here in Malaysia.
Why
is the NED which is funded entirely by the US government playing this
game in Malaysia when the Malaysian Government, especially in the last
few years, has gone out of its way to foster closer ties with the US?
In spite of the increasingly warm relations, there are elements in our foreign policy which do not blend with US interests.
On
the question of Israel and the struggle of the Palestinian people,
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak continues to adhere to the
principled policy of his predecessors.
He is not prepared to
express concern for Israel’s “security,” unlike the leader of the
Opposition who knows that “security” is the code-word that the Israeli
elite and their supporters in the US and the West look for in assessing a
leader’s attitude to Israel.
Neither has Najib shown any
inclination to endorse the US agenda of containing China which in the
context of East Asia is undoubtedly the US’ central preoccupation.
As
the US projects itself as the pivot of the Asia-Pacific and, in the
process, attempts to curb Chinese influence in the region, it wants to
be absolutely certain that it has allies and not just friends in Asean.
And
who can be a better ally than someone who not only sits on panels
funded by the NED and Soros outfits but has also, over the years,
developed strong ties with powerful personalities and lobbies at the
very core of the ‘deep state’ in the US – the deep state that actually
determines the direction of US foreign policy, regardless of who lives
in the White House?
These are some of the fundamental issues that
Malaysians should try to understand as they attempt to make sense of
the Malaysian political landscape on the eve of the 13th general
election.
For in the ultimate analysis what is at stake is our dignity as an independent and sovereign nation.
Protecting that dignity is part of the mission of Yayasan 1Malaysia.
DR CHANDRA MUZAFFAR Chairman, Board of Trustees
Yayasan 1Malaysia
Related posts/Articles:
Foreign funding for political purposes in Malaysia 22 Sep 2012
Soros link kept under wraps
Malaysiakini admits to receiving foreign funds
