A Cabinet minister and the chief of Malaysia's Election Commission (EC) have lent their voices to growing calls for laws on election funding, in the wake of a controversial US$700 million (S$960 million) donation to Prime Minister Najib Razak from Middle Eastern sources.
Malaysia must regulate political financing to ensure transparency and ban foreign funding, Datuk Paul Low, a Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said yesterday. There are no such laws now.
"All political donations must not be given into accounts of individuals but only into accounts of the political party and all donors must be publicly disclosed," Mr Low was quoted as saying in a speech to the Malaysian Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.
His sentiments were echoed by EC chairman Abdul Aziz Yusof, who called for the enactment of laws that require political parties to declare their sources of funding.
"Political parties must agree to reveal who the donors are, how much they get, local or overseas," he told news website Malay Mail Online.
Their comments come as public unhappiness continued to swirl over the massive fund transfer to Datuk Seri Najib's personal bank accounts by unnamed Middle Eastern sources.
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A protestor looks out from a police truck after he was detained by Malaysian police during a protest against Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur on August 1, 2015.
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Najib on July 28 sacked his deputy premier and attorney general in a cabinet reshuffle widely seen as an attempt to strengthen his hold on power as he battles corruption allegations.
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A demonstrator makes a fist after being detained during a protest against Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 1, 2015.
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Over 20 protesters were arrested after calling for Najib to resign, local media reported.
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PKR's Teja assemblyman Chang Lih Kang and Simpang Pulai assemblyman Tan Kar Hing were detained at about 2.20pm when people were starting to crowd outside the complex for the #TangkapNajib rally.
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Two separate explosions, believed to have been caused by firecrackers, were heard after the duo were nabbed - setting off a series of arrests of protesters.
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Several shops on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, including Sogo, had also closed their doors due to the commotion. Shoppers at Sogo were temporarily locked in.
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Police then cordoned off the area outside the complex at about 3pm, asking the public as well as pressmen, to disperse and leave the area.
Critics and opposition politicians say a donation could still be considered as "gratification", or corruption, under the law. Overseas funding also raises serious concerns, such as the possibility of foreign interest groups buying influence in the government, they add.
The US$700 million controversy - first exposed in a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report last month - has led to both Mr Najib and the opposition challenging each other to reveal the sources of their political funding.
Mr Najib's lawyer yesterday said they would seek a second opinion to decide what legal action to take against the WSJ, after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission announced on Monday that the money did not come from debt-laden state investor 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), as the WSJ alleged.
The 1MDB saga has led to the sacking of deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin and a Cabinet reshuffle, as well as the suspension of two publications that reported extensively on 1MDB's alleged financial mismanagement.
Newly appointed Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak defended the donation, saying "there is no law that says one can't collect money for political purposes".
The Star daily yesterday reported him as saying that the government is also mulling over a new law to require the registration of online news portals, which are usually more vocal against the government.
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Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak shook up his cabinet on July 28, removing detractors who had openly criticised the government's handling of the 1MDB scandal.
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Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was replaced by Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
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Mr Muhyiddin had urged PM Najib to explain the allegations in The Wall Street Journal that S$960 million had been deposited into the latter's personal accounts.
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The promotion of Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to the post of Deputy Prime Minister is a testimony to his resilience, as the 62-year-old is a come-back politician who survived a brief detention under the now-abolished Internal Security Act.
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As Home Minister, he attracted controversy when he suspended in 2013 the screening of Malaysian-made movie The New Village, saying it portrayed the Malayan Communist Party in a too-positive light.
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Former Rural and Regional Development Minister Mr Shafie Apdal has stood with former DPM Muhyiddin in openly voicing criticism against Najib's handling of 1MDB.
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Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the new Rural and Regional Development Minister, raised controversy in February this year when he called upon Malay consumers to assist the fight against profiteering by boycotting Chinese businesses.
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Abdul Gani Patail, who was yesterday replaced as Malaysia's Attorney-General, was in the midst of a high-profile probe into 1MDB. One of the most famous cases of his career was opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's first sodomy case in 1998.
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Malaysia's new Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, is a former Federal Court judge who has presided over several high-profile cases. He chaired the Court of Appeal which overturned a High Court decision to convict two former police commandos over Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu's murder.
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Datuk Seri Mohamad Fuzi Harun has been appointed the new director of the Special Branch (SB), the intelligence agency of the Malaysian Royal Police.
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Najib also made the surprising move of promoting 4 members of the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is also investigating 1MDB. PAC's chairman, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, is the new deputy home minister.
The Malaysian authorities have already blocked whistleblower website Sarawak Report, whose founder Clare Rewcastle-Brown was reported as saying yesterday that she was being followed and photographed in London, where she lives.
She told The Independent that a Chinese-Malaysian looking man was "obviously photographing" her in Hyde Park, where she was meeting a former Malaysian official on holiday. Ms Brown said she "confronted him and he ran away".
"I have had to put in police reports that I have been stalked and followed," she added.
Separately, Swiss prosecutors are looking into the possibility that Swiss banks may have broken the law in dealing with 1MDB funds, according to a statement by Switzerland-based nature non-governmental organisation Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF).
The BMF, a critic of former Sarawak chief minister Taib Mahmud, said it had lodged complaints under criminal law against the banks for alleged money-laundering and other offences.
chengwee@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on August 7, 2015.
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On Oct 12, a group of Barisan Nasional leaders headed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad have come together to voice out against the prosecution of former Batu Kawan Umno vice-chief Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan and his lawyer, Matthias Chang under the new anti-terrorism law.
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Both Khairuddin and Chang were detained under Section 124 of the Security Offence (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) 2012 over offences deemed detrimental to parliamentary democracy.
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Khairuddin was arrested after making several reports overseas, including in Singapore, Switzerland, France and Hong Kong against 1MDB.
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The press conference was held while Khairuddin and Chang were being charged at the Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court with attempting to sabotage the country's banking and financial systems.
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On Sep 16, the Himpunan Maruah Melayu rally which saw protesters turning the Padang Merbok field into a sea of red, brandishing placards and banners calling for Malay unity.
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According to Sept 16 rally organisers, the red shirt protest was held to "protect racial dignity" and as a counter to the Aug 29th Bersih 4.0 rally.
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Water cannons were fired at protesters in Petaling Street as the crowd there turned unruly.
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Tens of thousands of protesters gathered for a rally to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Razak at the Bersih 4 rally on August 29 and 30.
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Despite a government ban, many protesters wore the yellow "Bersih 4" T-shirt.
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Malaysia's former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife turned up at a rally on Saturday night. He attended the rally the following day as well, saying he felt there was no other way to oust Prime Minister Najib Razak.
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On July 28, Prime Minister Najib Razak dumped his deputy and four others in a cabinet reshuffle.
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Najib said in a televised broadcast that he dropped deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin from his Cabinet was due to political and administrative considerations.
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Najib named Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as Muhyiddin's replacement as DPM.
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Zahid Hamidi is a right wing politician well liked by members of the United Malays National Organisation party, which has led Malaysian coalition governments since independence in 1957.
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Muhyiddin had said at the weekend the ruling coalition could lose the next election if Najib and others did not better manage issues stemming from the 1MDB scandal.
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Najib's government also announced that Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail, the man who had led investigations into the 1MDB scandal, had been replaced by Mohamed Apandi Ali. It gave no reason for the change.
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On July 2, the Wall Street Journal reported that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had close to US$700 million (S$944 million) in deposits from troubled state fund 1MDB wired into his personal account.
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WSJ also released nine documents that showed alleged bank transfers from various companies to Najib's personal accounts on March 2013, December 2014 and February 2015.
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A former journalist, Lester Melanyi, alleged that opposition leaders had conspired with whistleblower website Sarawak Report on the 1MDB issue.
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Faced with mounting public pressure, the government has set up a multi-agency task force that includes respected central bank governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
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The story took another turn when a tattooed Swiss national Xavier Andre Justo, a former executive at an early joint-venture partner of 1MDB, was nabbed by Thai police in Koh Samui. He later admitted to passing gigabytes of data to The Edge media group and Sarawak Report website.
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The Home Ministry suspended for three months the publishing permits of two business papers published by The Edge Media Group. It earlier blocked access to the Sarawak Report website.
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Mr Nazir Razak, Mr Najib's brother, condemned the suspension of The Edge, saying: "recent 1MDB coverage seems outstanding but if there were flaws then correct them or take legal recourse."
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Malaysia's prime minister Najib Razak.
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Former premier Mahathir Mohamad has pressed openly for Prime Minister Najib to step down to "save the country and Umno", their political party.
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"If Umno wants to be saved, it has to change its leader. Najib has too many scandals, and he cannot seem to respond to them," the outspoken former prime minister said.
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Mahathir also said Najib's performance as premier was worse than his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
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In a post on his widely-read blog, Dr Mahathir cited several issues that he said showed why Mr Najib was not fit to lead the country.
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These included the troubled investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) started by Mr Najib, which missed repeated deadlines to pay down billions of dollars in debts, with questions swirling around the whereabouts of huge sums.
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Mahathir called 1MDB "highly embarrassing" for the country, and demanded explanations over alleged murky deals involving huge sums.
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A recent New York Times investigative report also detailed multi-million-dollar purchases of luxury US real estate by a close Najib family associate and 1MDB figure, financier Low Taek Jho.
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Malaysian tycoon Low Taek Jho spotted partying with socialite Paris Hilton.
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The report also said documents showed millions of dollars in earlier jewellery purchases for Rosmah Mansor, Najib's wife.
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Rosmah is a controversial figure in Malaysia, where she is routinely portrayed by critics as out of touch with ordinary citizens struggling to make ends meet.
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Another issue raised by Dr Mahathir was the 2006 murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu, with suspicions that she was killed to silence her over kickbacks in the 2002 purchase of French submarines.
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Two bodyguards for Najib were convicted of murder and condemned in January to hang.
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Dr Mahathir called for a new inquiry after one of the two men convicted of the murder - Mr Najib's former bodyguard Sirul Azhar Umar - claimed he had followed orders to kill her.
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Malaysia has also drawn international criticism after opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was jailed for five years on a sodomy conviction widely considered politically motivated.
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Mr Najib's government has launched a tightening clampdown in which dozens of opponents were hauled up on sedition or other charges over the past year, including Mr Anwar's daughter, MP Nurul Izzah Anwar.
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