FNF Regional Director attends Workshops on 'Policial Party Strategies to Combat Corruption'

Political party officals of ruling and opposition parties from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand as well as representatives from NGOs and the media attended the workshop.

Malaysian political parties were represented by

• Dr. Shamsul Anwar Sulaiman, Exevutive Committe member of UMNO Youth
• Dr. Vijayaratnam S. Seevaratnam, Vice President of Parti Gerakan Malaysia
• Dr. Syed Azman Syed Ahmad, MP, PAS
• Mr. Khalid Jaafar, Keadilan
• Ms. Teresa Kok Suh Sim, MP, DAP

Mr. Uwe Johannen, Regional Director, East and Southeast Asia of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation presented a paper on Countering Corruption Through Controlling Pary and Campaign Finances - The European Experience.

Mr. Johannen explained attempts by European governments to regulate political funding and the regulations, which we were implemented in full or in part in most European countries. He highlighted the main targets in the European fight against corruption:

• Declaring all political contributions,
• Promoting fairness,
• Controlling the rapid rise in the cost of campaigning,
• Promoting strong and competitive political parties
• Encouraging grass roots participation.

In the final analysis, the scandal-driven reform process in Europe demonstrates that the public and the mass media play an important role as watchdogs when it comes to political donations and party financing.

The training programme by the Foundation's Internatioal Academy for Leadership in Germany on Strategies Against Corruption sums up that free and independent media are essential in order to combat corruption. Access are essential in order to combat corruption. Access to information and critical use of it, is a precondition for public media, which monitor the accountability of rulers and stand for the fight against corruption.

At the end of the conference, the participants made the following recommendations:

• comprehensive legislative frameworks to ensure financial accountability, controls and disclosure of campaing spending, the disclosure of assets of candidates and party officials, the upholding of ethical standards, the avoidance of conflicts of interest, the penalization of money laundering
• enforcement of anti-corruption legislation and party standards through independent institutions;
  state funding for politicl parties
• transparency and accountability within political parties
• greater democracy in the selection and election of party officials
• strengthening the research capabilities of political parties
• regional collaboratino in order to share ideas and information and to monitor on a regional level progress made within countries and political parties.

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