'People kept poor to ensure support can be bought'

The incentive for politicians to keep people poor so that their political support can be bought will persist if problems related to political campaign financing are not resolved, said academician Bridget Welsh.

“I think we are already seeing some of that. What is happening in East Malaysia in terms of poverty really raises questions, because vote buying has been going on there for a long period of time and they are not really fundamentally changing the standards of living in these states for the majority of the people,” she said.

She was speaking at a seminar in the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) today, where she was asked what the implications are if the problem persists.

Earlier during her presentation and a separate presentation by another speaker James Chin, both speakers agreed that the 13th general election saw the most expensive political campaign in Malaysian history, but differed on whether RM1 billion or RM2 billion was spent.

[More to follow]