COMMENT | Invoke is a new organisation but it has always been in the headlines. Headed by PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli, it is working hard to help selected candidates win this coming general election.

They do this by actively campaigning in selected areas for the candidate they have chosen, doing all sorts of surveys to ascertain the true feelings of the local voters, and even promising financial help to these candidates if they satisfy the conditions imposed by Invoke. Many of those aspiring wakil rakyat have accepted the offer from Invoke, and they are willing to declare their assets.

I am not sure this is a good idea; simply because some good candidates may have a lot of debts which they do not want the world to know.

Being “indebted” does not mean he or she is not suitable as an MP. It does not mean he or she will be corrupt when they become backbenchers in Parliament.

In a Parliamentary system, the ones most vulnerable to corruption are the ministers because they make commercial and policy decisions; backbenchers just meet 42 days in a year. Anyway, our backbenchers do not have the influence or clout of “lobbyists” of the United States Congress to enact laws that we need to know how rich they are...