KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 — The Malaysian government will give priority to reforming laws on bankruptcy to help Malaysians, instead of political financing laws which were more pressing during elections and should have been rolled out before the 15th general election (GE15) last November, minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said has said.

Azalina, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of law and institutional reform, reportedly acknowledged the importance of laws on political funding and said such laws are on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s radar.

But she highlighted bankruptcy as a problem affecting many now, and spoke of her immediate goal to help those eligible to be discharged from their status as a bankrupt person.

“I am looking at all sorts (of legislation)... Personally, I want to resolve problems faced by the rakyat (such as) matters concerning bankruptcy.

“Political financing laws should have been introduced before the last elections when working on the anti-hopping laws.

“We need political financing laws during election time,” she was quoted as saying by news portal Malaysiakini in a joint interview with a few media organisations.

She was responding to a question on whether her priorities include political funding laws.

In his Budget 2023 speech, Anwar had said the planned amendments to the Insolvency Act is expected to result in 130,000 individuals being discharged from bankruptcy.

Apart from planned amendments to the Insolvency Act 1967, Azalina said other important planned amendments expected to be tabled in Parliament are for the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 and Mental Health Act 2001.

Malaysiakini also reported Azalina as saying that there are plans to do away with laws which make it a crime to attempt suicide.

On March 6, Azalina had provided updates on law reforms that are being worked on with the aim to bring such changes as quickly as possible, including a planned Political Funding Bill which she said would be referred to a parliamentary special select committee once it is established and that this committee would then engage with members of Parliament on the Bill.

Former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who was recently charged with abuse of power and money laundering over hundreds of millions of ringgit for his party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, had questioned why he was being charged when other political parties also receive political funding. He had also stressed that the funds went to the party’s accounts and not to his own accounts.

Malaysia currently does not have any laws governing the contribution of funds to political parties and politicians.