KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) today urged the federal government to end "old practices” of funding political parties and rewarding their leaders through lucrative appointments in government-linked companies (GLC) and statutory bodies.

Instead, it said a democratic, fair, and accountable system should be established to publicly fund political parties, in a statement to five recent political appointments by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

Saying it disagreed with appointing elected representatives to GLCs and statutory bodies, Bersih said exception could be made for politicians if they were shown to have relevant qualifications and experience.

"This may include politicians but such politicians must have necessary competence and credentials related to the statutory bodies and because of potential conflict of interests, appointment of elected representatives should be minimised.

"Further, measures taken that those with statutory body appointment must be subjected to scrutiny by Parliamentary committees as ministers and deputy ministers are by other lawmakers,” it said

The ministry recently appointed Muhammad Faiz Fadzil, Datuk Mahfuz Omar, Aminuddin Zulkipli, Dr Azman Ismail, and Sheikh Umar Bagharid Ali as the chairmen of five statutory bodies and GLCs.

Today, Bersih said the wanton appointment of party leaders to such positions could be construed as an abuse of public trust and office, and bordered on corruption.

"We recognise that parties have the need to maintain full-time operatives but their salaries should be paid for by parties or their affiliated entities, not with public money. Meanwhile, parties deserve annual subsidies from taxpayers based on their vote shares in federal and state elections,” it said.

Bersih also said statutory boards should be scrutinised by bipartisan parliamentary special select committees to ensure that the objectives of the boards are fulfilled.

Earlier today, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu defended the political appointments for the five Pakatan Harapan figures, claiming these did not violate the coalition’s principles.

He added that such agencies and committees usually have many members who are experts in their respective fields to provide the necessary advice and input, saying the appointments were discussed among the leadership on the criteria of community involvement.

In March, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi reportedly said that the government will not appoint any person who is unable to contribute to the organisation or agency they are meant to lead.