Bersih praises Kelantan's constituency funding move

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) has lauded the Kelantan state government under Menteri Besar Mohd Nassuruddin Daud for providing equal constituency development funds to all state assembly members.

This includes the two opposition state seats represented by BN and Pakatan Harapan.

“The provision of equal constituency development funds (CDF) regardless of political affiliation, was initiated by the Perak state government under Saarani Mohamad in 2020 and now followed by Kelantan needs to be emulated by other states.

“Political maturity, as demonstrated in Perak and Kelantan, is the way forward for more professional politics without punishing others based on their political ideologies,” said Bersih in a statement today.

The electoral watchdog called on the state governments of Kelantan and Perak to make history by enacting laws for equal constituency development funds for all state reps.

“Bersih also urges the federal government and all nine states as well as territories of Sabah and Sarawak to immediately legislate and provide equal funding to all assemblypersons, regardless of political affiliation,” it added.

Bersih reminded Harapan and BN, the largest and second-largest blocs in the federal government, that they promised to allocate equal funding to all elected representatives in their last election manifestos.

Equal CDF laws

“People have long awaited the fulfilment of this promise.

“It is not enough for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to announce that the federal government is willing to grant allocations to opposition MPs but he wants the opposition leader from PN to come and negotiate with the federal government.

“Harapan and BN are responsible not only for implementing this manifesto at the federal level and in all the states they rule but also for negotiating a package of equal CDF laws in the federation and all states, including those ruled by PN, GPS, and GRS,” Bersih said.

It expressed that the denial of equal development funds to constituencies won by opposition representatives is a form of punishment for the people in those constituencies.

Outdated practice

“Even if the allocation is passed down through the ruling party’s area coordinator, who is often a potential candidate, it is still a gross misuse of government resources for partisan purposes.

“In the most extreme case in Sarawak, government assemblypersons receive an allocation of a minimum of RM8 million per year while the opposition assemblypersons are given nothing. Such situations cannot be accepted at all.

“Even unfair allocations are practised by the state governments of Selangor, Penang, Johor, and Pahang, where government state representatives are given more allocations than their opposition counterparts.

“It is also an outdated practice that is not in line with the values of the Madani government,” it said.

Bersih added that in collaboration with think tank Ideas, it carried out in-depth research on providing equal constituency development funds and prepared a generic draft bill for use by the federal and state governments. - Mkini