Bersih says not allocating constituency funds equally is akin to punishing people for not voting for those in the government bloc.
PETALING JAYA: Electoral reform group Bersih has backed Arau MP Shahidan Kassim’s call for Putrajaya to give all MPs an equal allocation of funds.
Bersih said this needed to be one of the main agenda of Anwar Ibrahim’s government in implementing political and institutional reforms, describing equal funds for MPs as a key step towards guaranteeing political stability.
It said that through equal allocations for all MPs, no political party can make lack of funds an excuse to topple the government mid-term.
“We urge opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin to hold discussions with Anwar on enacting a law on equal constituency funding at both the federal and state levels,” it said in a statement today.
Bersih maintained that equal funding should not be at the discretion of the sitting prime minister, menteri besar or chief minister.
This, it said, was why making it a law was necessary, as it would be implemented regardless of who formed the government or was in the top post.
It maintained that constituency funding was the people’s right and that not allocating these funds equally was akin to punishing Malaysians for not voting for elected representatives in the government bloc.
“This should not be continued by the current unity government, which presents itself as reformist,” it said.
Shahidan had claimed that the government was not giving opposition MPs any funding and that government MPs had already received their allocations.
The Perikatan Nasional MP urged Anwar to explain the matter.
