Commentary: Does the Malaysian public need to know what assets the Prime Minister holds?
There is no international consensus for how much public access to asset disclosure information should be given, taking into account also the need to balance this move towards more transparency with an official’s right to privacy.
There are good reasons why public access to information must be part of an asset declaration law. Information about a politician’s assets allows for voters to be better informed.
Civil society and journalists can also become part of the verification process to ensure political office holders do not abuse their power for personal gain.
This enhances the deterrent value of the system, increases its credibility and complements investigative work by monitoring agencies overseeing audit declarations.
REQUIRE FAMILY MEMBERS TO DECLARE
Like many others before him, Dr Mahathir has expressed concerns over privacy as well, highlighting the need to protect family members.
But studies have not shown negative impact when it comes to the safety or financial standing of these public officers and family members who have publicly declared their assets.
On the contrary, many jurisdictions realise the need to include spouses and children in these exercises. Public officials can very easily conceal irregularities by transferring assets to their immediate family members.
Look no further than the profligate wealth of Najib’s spouse, Rosmah Mansor, whose shock that she did not know the value of her wealth was just as shocking to the public. Current finance minister Lim Guan Eng’s ongoing trial involves the acquisition of land through his wife’s legal firm.
NOT A BINARY CHOICE
It is not a binary choice – whether requiring these asset declarations be publicly available or not, and whether all immediate the family members of public officers should be involved. Malaysia has to find the balance between privacy and public interest.
Experts have suggested calibrating to only allow a subset of information to enter the public domain, allowing a certain level of privacy depending on the risk profile of the position of the office holder.
Rosmah Mansor, wife of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, arrives at the Anti-Corruption Agency for questioning in Putrajaya, Malaysia on Jun 5, 2018. (Photo: AP/Vincent Thian)
The more exposed a politician or a senior bureaucrat may be to potential corruption risks, there may be more value in releasing more information about his asset declaration to the public and in greater detail.
Some jurisdictions also require their monitoring agencies to hold onto full details of an official’s asset declaration record until a reasonable request from the public is made. But there may be value in maximum disclosure for the leadership echelon – including the top civil service leaders who head ministries, or a full minister.
After all, such declarations are also an affirmation of public transparency and integrity.
For too long, Malaysians have allowed the concentration of power in the hands of the executive, tolerating far too great a level of opacity for national economic performance. Najib exploited this situation to conduct his affairs with impunity.
Dr Mahathir and the Pakatan Harapan government must realise that this was a mistake and create a rules-based system that returns power to the people to check their leaders.
An asset declaration law that involves public disclosure and accounts itself to civil society, rather than simply the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, is crucial to the goal of restoring Malaysia’s reputation.
Ho Yi Jian is the Open Government Initiative Officer at the Centre to Combat Cronyism and Corruption (C4 Center), an independent good governance policy advocacy group based in Kuala Lumpur.
This article first appeared in CNA on 14 July 2018.
