Govt studying best mechanisms on political funding

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pix) said the government was still studying the best mechanisms on the funding of political parties in the country.
He said the government wanted to ensure that corruption did not occur in party management because the biggest corruption scandals were related to political parties.
Dr Mahathir said political parties needed to have proper funding but today's Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council meeting could not decide on how political parties could be funded to enable them to function without the help of any groups.
He said several proposals were being finalised including the formula used in Germany where political parties were provided special provisions.
"There is a suggestion for us to follow Germany where the government gives allocations to political parties so that they do not have to wait for donations from the public.
According to the prime minister, an in-depth study needs to be undertaken to ensure there were no elements of corruption in political funding.
"This is like what happened when a company wanted to donate RM100 million to Tabung Harapan.
"They tried but we did not accept, it was clear that they had ulterior intentions. If the RM100 million was donated to a political party, it would be worse, so how to prevent a such a thing happening," he said.
Dr Mahathir added that the government welcomed the public's views in finding ways to resolve this (expecting returns from political funding). — Bernama