National Consultative Committee on Political Funding (JKNMPP)’s latest proposal on political funding reform falls short of saying that Datuk Seri Najib is no longer fit to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
In a statement, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low said that one of the preliminary decisions agreed upon by the committee tasked with drawing up guidelines to regulate private funding for political parties as well as politicians is to ban political donations from foreign interest and sources.
“This is necessary as a safeguard against foreign influence on local politics as well as the sovereignty of the nation,” the statement read.
Even though our Attorney-General Apandi Ali has cleared Najib Razak of corruption over the RM2.6b cash gift, Paul Low’s proposal to ban private donations from foreign interests to domestic political parties is an admission that it was unethical and inappropriate for Najib to receive the RM2.6 billion donation from the Saudi royal family.
Not only that, the Committee also suggested that government-linked corporations, among others, should not be allowed to make political donations, either to a party or an individual.
This recommendation is again, no different from saying that it is totally improper and unacceptable for SRC International to channel RM42 million into Najib’s bank account through its subsidiaries.
The recommendations of the Committee make perfect sense. All right-thinking Malaysians will agree that these are the correct steps to take even before the Committee came out with these recommendations.
My question to Najib is, does he agree with the recommendations of the Committee? If he does, why did he accept the RM2.6 billion donation from the Saudi royal family in 2013? And how could he shamelessly receive RM42 million donations from SRC International through its subsidiaries?
All BN component parties should now take a stand and tell us if they agree with all these proposals. And if they do, are they not admitting that it is morally wrong for Najib to accept donations from foreign sources and government-owned companies? Hence, how can they continue to support an unethical leader like Najib to continue leading the nation?