Malaysia needs to improve public participation in budget process: IDEAS

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia provides limited budget information to the public and few opportunities for public participation in the budget process and this should be rectified, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) said.
The think tank said this finding is based on the results of the Open Budget Survey 2017 (OBS), conducted by the International Budget Partnership (IBP). IDEAS is the Malaysia partner in this global survey.
IDEAS said the survey results, released today, also concluded that Malaysia's legislative and audit institutions provide weak oversight on the budget process.
Malaysia obtained scores of 46, 22, and 35 out of 100 for transparency, public participation and oversight respectively.
In addition, the survey finds that the level of Malaysia's budget transparency remained largely unchanged since 2015.
"This means that the amount of budget information available to the public has not been improved," it added, noting the survey highlights the absence of parliamentary select committees as one of the reasons for the weak budget oversight. ​
Launched in 2006, the OBS is the world's only independent, comparative assessment of the three pillars of public budget accountability: transparency, oversight and public participation. The 2017 survey evaluated 115 countries across six continents.
Among 10 Commonwealth countries in Asia Pacific that are included in the survey, Malaysia is among the lowest in terms of budget oversight score, with only Fiji and Papua New Guinea ranked lower.
However, IDEAS said the survey shows that the government has improved public participation during budget formulation process resulting in Malaysia having above average global score in this category.
"The government has done well in this respect. We need to improve public participation by improving transparency and oversight so that we perform better in a holistic way. The recommendations from this survey should be considered seriously," IDEAS fellow Sri Murniati said.
She pointed out that one of the recommendations that the government can take up immediately is to establish parliamentary select committees.
"The discussion on this matter has been taking place. In fact, there has been reports that the government has agreed on establishing nine select committees, but the details are scarce and no target date is given. The government should aim to have the committees immediately after GE14."
"Having committees will certainly improve the level of accountability, especially regarding the use of public spending. They can thoroughly scrutinise the budget during its formulation and implementation phases as well as related government policies and laws."
Sri Murniati added that this will also improve the level of transparency and public participation, as the public can be involved either by inviting experts or stakeholders during the discussion or allowing the public to observe the discussion.