POLLS watchdog Bersih 2.0 has called on Putrajaya to work with political parties and the Election Commission (EC) to initiate a multi-partisan reform by implementing public funding for political parties. 

Bersih 2.0 researcher Ooi Kok Hin said that public funding was crucial to reduce the influence of private money in politics and to promote a more level playing field.

He also said that political parties were a necessity in any representative democracy.

“They are the primary vehicles through which citizens organise, vote and are represented by.

“Political parties need funds to operate during election period and regular non-election period,” he said during the launch of the Public Funding for Politics in Malaysia report today.

Ooi is a freelance researcher and a Japanese government scholar.

He said that it was no surprise that approximately two-thirds of countries around the world provide public funding for their political parties.

“This practice is common across multiple continents, including many Muslim-majority countries.

“Malaysia is an exception to this trend, and it is time that we join the world’s democracies to implement public funding.”

Ooi said to implement this, Bersih 2.0 proposed for an annual allocation of RM133 million at the federal level.

“This RM133 million annual allocation is to be administered by the Election Commission.

“This figure is derived by taking the median of the last 10 years of federal budget and multiplied by 0.05%.”

He said that the amount would be divided into two parts, which was RM123 million for the first recommendation, and RM10 million for the second recommendation.

He said in the report that the first recommendation was introducing vote-based direct public funding for regular party and campaign expenses.

“This amount is to be proportionately allocated based on vote share that a party gained in the most recent federal election. 

“To be eligible for this vote-based direct public funding for regular party and election campaign expenses, parties must pass a threshold of 2% vote share in any of the three regions, namely Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.”

According to the report, under a simulation they conducted based on the GE14 results, Barisan Nasional can expect to receive approximately RM41.5 million, while Pakatan Harapan will receive RM56.1 million.

It added that PAS will receive RM20.7 million and Warisan should receive RM 2.9 million on an annual basis.  

Ooi also said that they proposed that 25% of the funds received by parties under this recommendation be earmarked for policy development research.

Promoting women representation

On the second recommendation, he said that funds be used to promote women representation in politics.

“We propose RM10 million out of the RM133 million annual allocation for direct public funding to be set aside for this.

“The purpose of this is to encourage women representation. To be eligible, parties only need to have at least one elected woman MP.”

Ooi added that the more female MPs that a party has, the more public funding it receives on an annual basis.

According to the ranking by Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), as of January 2021, Malaysia ranked 142 out of 190 countries on women’s representation in national parliament.

While a record number of women candidates were nominated in GE14, only 14.4% were elected as MPs. – January 25, 2021.