PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang has called PKR’s decision to make its candidates in the 15th general election (GE15) declare their assets a form of “stupidity”, insisting that they merely want to “menunjuk-nunjuk” (show off).
The incumbent Marang MP said this during his weekly lecture in his constituency in Terengganu today (Nov 11) when he was asked to comment on whether his party would follow PKR’s footsteps in having election candidates declare their assets.
“Asset declaration is sometimes a form of stupidity. They merely want to menunjuk-nunjuk (show off). What should we show the public? We should show that we are good people,” Malaysiakini reported Hadi as saying.
PKR, MUDA and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) had recently made the move to declare their assets publicly in order for the public to evaluate if MPs used their position to enrich themselves.
On this topic, Hadi said PAS was fielding candidates who were “good people” and not people who had a lot of assets.
“We don’t have a lot of assets. Others have millions. We are in the hundreds of thousands. No need to declare,” the news portal quoted him as saying.
“Some of us are millionaires but we are not involved in (running for public office). Those of us who are, are not allowed to be in business.”
Hadi said PAS’ refusal to declare the assets of their candidates will not be a problem as voters will note that no past and present lawmakers from PAS were currently facing criminal trials.
“However, there are Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional (BN) people who are currently facing trials,” he said.
Yesterday (Nov 10) Hadi’s fellow coalition member and Perikatan Nasional (PN) election director Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali had similarly downplayed the necessity for the coalition’s candidates to declare their assets.
Calling it “theatrics”, Azmin reportedly said asset declaration notwithstanding, those with graft charges lined up against them would still be nominated as election candidates.
“If you’re committed to fighting corruption within the system you need to show a good example,” Astro Awani quoted him as saying.
“You cannot submit nomination papers of anyone who is still involved in court cases, and that is our stance.”
Earlier this week PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli said requiring all candidates to declare their assets would instil public confidence in both election officials and institutions they serve should the candidate come into office.
“We want to be as transparent as possible to show to the public that we can be trusted. It’s about setting a higher standard for candidates – if they wish to serve in public office, they must be open to public scrutiny about their finances,” he elaborated. – Nov 11, 2022
