Anwar wants 'fair procedure' followed when ministers campaign

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said today that a fair procedure should be followed in allowing ministers and public officials who are party leaders to campaign during working hours. 

Anwar said there should not be a procedure that is too open that allows ministers to spend all their time campaigning.

"If you are open, the ministers can just virtually spend all the time campaigning which is also bad (for the administration). 

"If they do, then they (ministers) should take leave," he told reporters after delivering a talk at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia today. 

Anwar was responding to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad complaining yesterday on the restriction on cabinet ministers campaigning during working hours.

Mahathir said the restriction seemed to provide an opportunity for leaders of opposition parties without government positions to campaign around the clock.

Meanwhile, Anwar also said he supported the government's efforts to check corruption by extending the asset declaration initiative to include opposition MPs. 

He added that they should support the move to champion transparency and accountability. 

On the move by PAS to bar its members from raising issues related to the party in the media following the expose of a "dedak cartel," Anwar said the public has the right to know if the allegations are serious. 

“It is in the public sphere and it involves funds from other parties as the allegations state,” he said. 

 The order came in the wake of fresh allegations of the existence of the so-called "dedak cartel" by Zaharudin Muhammad, the son-in-law of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

- Bernama