Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4) chairman Edmund Terence Gomez asked how these businessmen-turned-politicians would vote in Parliament on issues that did not serve their business interests.
“How will they vote on environmental policies if they have an active interest in infrastructure development, including the construction of dams, and in plantations?
“And what about issues like the minimum wage? Why would they support these when these will be major issues for their companies?” he asked at the launch of C4’s Business in Politics report.
C4’s research has so far identified 13 of 222 former MPs who have been embroiled in controversial corporate-related matters or have offshore accounts or have foreign business interests.
Gomez said some of these former MPs would be contesting for parliamentary seats in the 15th general election (GE15).
In the report, these ex-MPs were classified into four business-politics nexus categories:
- Politicians who belong to a family business or are closely related to owners of such enterprises, including through marriage ties;
- Children of politicians (who have served as prime ministers or chief ministers) active in business, but then became MPs;
- People who were in business before entering politics; and
- Former executives from the private sector and government-linked companies (GLCs), who are now in politics.
FMT is withholding the names of those mentioned in the report pending their comment.
Gomez said these diverse forms of “business in politics” functioned as a political strategy for businessmen to obtain information that could enhance their corporate interests.
He also said: “Party leaders are looking to bring in wealthy business people who can provide additional funding for campaigning. They require funds to fight an election that could go either way, so candidates who can provide additional funding will be beneficial.”