KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 (Bernama) -- The government is currently conducting a feasibility study to enact the Charities Act and establish the Charities Commission, aiming to address the misuse of funds donated to charitable organisations by individuals and companies.
According to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, the study was approved at the last Cabinet meeting with the objective to improve and and amend the Trustees (Incorporation) Act 1952 and the Trustee Act 1949 to align with current needs.
The study began on May 6 and is expected to be completed by mid-September. Charity legislation from several countries, including the Charities Act 2011 (United Kingdom), the Charities Act 1994 (Singapore), the Charities Act 2005 (New Zealand), the Charities and Non-Profit Commission Acts 2012, and the Charities Act 2013 (Australia) will be referenced to help Malaysia develop a similar act.
"The government hopes this bill will receive approval from the Cabinet, Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara once the study is completed," said Azalina in response to a question from Senator Datuk C Sivaraj during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Negara today.
Azalina said the monitoring mechanism to ensure transparent fund management would be determined based on the results of the study on current Charity Act models.
"As a responsible government, we will first conduct a study in collaboration with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), the International Islamic University of Malaysia (UIAM), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Malaysian Bar Council and relevant agencies.
“This study aims to identify the best approach, acknowledging past instances where public and investor funds were misused,” she said.
She added that despite security checks by the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, there were concerns that funds might still be used for money laundering and in certain cases, the sources of these funds and the true intentions behind contributions were unclear.
-- BERNAMA
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