.JPG "Perak Opposition leader Datuk Saarani Mohamad speaks to reporters at the sidelines of the state legislative assembly in Ipoh July 23, 2019. u00e2u20acu2022 Picture by Farhan Najib")
IPOH, July 23 — The Perak legislative assembly today approved a motion which compels all assemblymen and their immediate family to declare their respective assets.
The state assembly is the first to follow a similar move by Parliament, where all members, as well as their families, are required to declare their assets.
The motion, tabled by Pasir Bedamar assemblyman Terence Naidu, was approved after receiving the support of 31 out of 59 assemblymen, who debated the motion.
Earlier, when tabling the motion, Terence said all assemblymen, their spouses, children and also trustees in the statutory declaration should declare their assets.
“The declaration should be submitted to the State Speaker Ngeh Koo Ham within three months of the approval of the motion,” he said.
Terence also said a copy of the document will be submitted to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner.
However, state Opposition leader Datuk Saarani Mohamad, while saying that the Opposition bloc supports the motion, requested that it be amended, as it believes family members should not be made to declare their assets.
“We support the motion that all assemblymen need to declare assets. But why do our family members need to declare their assets too?
“Even in the MACC asset declaration form, there is no requirement for our family members to declare their assets,” he claimed.
“Also, why do we need to submit it to state speaker when we are already submitting it to the MACC? The speaker is a politician, who can assure us that he will not use the info in the report for his political speech,” he asked.
Meanwhile, state DAP chairman Nga Kor Ming claimed that this was a ploy by the Opposition to stop the motion from being approved.
“The way the motion was brought up and tabled can’t be questioned. It was done according to the law.
“We are happy that Perak is the first state to compel all its assemblymen to declare assets,” he said, by describing the move as ‘Today in History’.
Previously, only mentris besar and state executive councillors were obliged to declare their assets in Perak.
