Think tank moots use of 4W1H technique in preparing political funding bill
PETALING JAYA : The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) has called for the adoption of the 4W1H technique often used by journalists in drawing up the political financing bill.
The technique is based on a series of questions used to compose a news story: 'who', 'what', 'where', 'when', and 'how'.
The think tank said the proposed legislation should include answers to these five questions, namely, 'who is the person/entity that is obliged to report'; 'what type and size of donation is to be reported?'; 'when does the report need to be made?'; 'how or in what form is the reporting to be done?'; and 'where or to whom does the report go?'.
'More advanced countries, especially in Europe, make use of the well-known 4W1H guidelines,' IDEAS said in a statement.
The proposal follows news reports yesterday quoting law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said as saying that discussions had been initiated by her office with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Election Commission regarding the proposed law.
IDEAS also suggested that the proposed law require political parties and election candidates to keep records of all direct and indirect contributions received during and after the electrical campaign.
A report on the contributions should be made public, it added.
The proposals were part of the think tank's policy paper, titled 'Effective Reporting and Disclosure of Political Finance: Guidelines, Best Practices, Challenges, and Lessons for Malaysia', which advocates a transparent political financing system and outlines ways to achieve it.
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