The federal government has been accused of discrimination in the distribution of constituency funds based on the BN's ability to be elected, as reported by some newspapers.

In a statement today, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections said this was akin to a "crime against democracy".

Sin Chew Daily reported on Saturday that constituencies that were considered "white" or highly winnable would receive up to RM2.5 million in funds provided by Putrajaya.

Constituencies considered to be "grey" would reportedly receive RM1 million to RM2 million while "black" areas, where BN was unlikely to win or had lost in the 2008 general election, would reportedly be entitled to nothing.

"Bersih 2.0 stresses that all Malaysians, regardless of political affiliation or socio-cultural background, should have fair access to constituency funds.

"Treating constituency funds as an election tool to induce support is a shameless and corrupt act of misusing public funds," the Bersih 2.0 steering committee said in a statement.

The group added that this was an insult to the recent Merdeka Day celebrations as the move was akin to forcing voters to vote for a particular party in order to gain access to the funds.

'Kleptomaniac mentality'

It said that both BN and Pakatan Rakyat should respect democracy and stop the current practice of doling out constituency development funds only to their party representatives.

"This latest discriminatory practice is but the height of such feudal and kleptomaniac mentality," they said.

The federal government and Selangor government have disbursed additional funds through their elected representatives, which could be used for infrastructure and other purposes.

These funds were disbursed on top of the funds that elected representatives receive annually from the respective governments.

In the case of Selangor , it has openly admitted that the funds would only be handed to Pakatan representatives, including those who were ‘looking after' BN held seats.

Thus far, there has been no official announcement by the federal government of the special funds, nor has there been any denial of the Sin Chew report.