With GE15 coming up very soon, a number of politicians have made it a point to declare their assets in the name of complete financial transparency and accountability.
By doing so, they are able to appear more relatable to the rakyat and prove that they have nothing to hide.
Recently, Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Ramanan Ramakrishnan made headlines after he refused to give details of his income sources or a breakdown of the cash under his name after having issued a declaration of assets worth RM63.5 million.
Rafizi to meet up with him to hear his explanation
According to Berita Harian, PKR Deputy President Rafizi Ramli will meet with Ramanan, for not filling in the details in his declaration of assets.
Rafizi said that the meeting should be held according to the party’s decision.
“I will talk to Ramanan because I think declaring assets is a good thing and we decided that all our candidates should declare assets. It is also to train the candidates to face the people openly if anyone asks.”
He said that the move also aims to educate politicians not to abuse their positions.
“What is important is that voters will be interested in pressuring all politicians to do that, not only in PKR but also those in PN and BN. This is the best way for their future. If we want politicians not to use their positions to make money, we have to teach them from now on to live transparently,” he added.
“That’s not what they want to know”
The former MIC leader, who was chosen to represent PH in Sungai Buloh, said that he felt there was no need to specify the details of his assets as his worth was already publicly known.
“I think no one wants to know how many rings I have, or how many shoes I have, or how many gold necklaces I have. That’s not what they want to know.”
A copy of his asset declaration was earlier published on a PKR website, listing his wealth under various categories including more than RM23 million in cash as well as jewellery worth RM4 million.
He also listed RM27 million in property, RM8.6 million in vehicles and RM3.5 million in stocks and insurance, leading to a total of RM63.5 million in net assets minus some RM2.5 million debts for housing and car loans and credit card balance.
However, he refused to share the breakdown of these assets, and left only arrows pointing towards the total, whilst giving no indication of how much he has in various bank accounts or his EPF account.
Ramanan dismissed criticism over the lack of transparency in his declaration, and challenged his rivals to also declare their wealth.
“We are not doing an audit here. But more importantly, my opponents don’t want to do this. Yet no one asks. To me that’s funny.”
Do you think that he’s in the wrong for not specifying his details of his income sources or a breakdown of the cash?
