The proposal from the national consultative committee on political financing for a new law to regulate political expenditure is a good start, but more still needs to be done, Bersih said.

Bersih chief Maria Chin Abdullah said there is a need for institutional reforms to give more autonomy and authority to the Election Commission (EC) and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

"Our problem is that, for example when there's vote buying, the EC will say, 'go to the MACC', while the MACC will say that under the law, it does not have the power to act.

"So it'll just go back and forth between the EC and MACC," Maria told Malaysiakini today.

She added that political parties should also be placed under the purview of the EC, instead of the Registrar of Societies, to enable the commission to better monitor parties and candidates' adherence to the law.

Maria also objected to the proposal to make election spending limitless, as announced by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Paul Low today.

"Limitless spending is very dangerous... There should be a limit on not just how much a candidate spends but how much parties spend during elections."

Currently there is a RM100,000 and RM200,000 spending limit for candidates contesting in state and parliamentary seats respectively.

However, there is no limit on how much a party can spend during elections.

Direct public funding

The Bersih chairperson also mooted the introduction of direct public funding for political parties, a system in which all parties receive finances from public funds.

"This will actually help reduce reliance on private sources of funding, particularly from corporations with interests.

"This will also level the playing field for smaller parties," Maria said.

Asked if she had any scepticism about the proposed law being implemented, Maria replied that it was too early to say.

"It takes a lot of political will. Not everyone wants their political funding publicised.

"They took a long time to formulate the proposal, so I hope the implementation won't take a long time."

The national consultative committee on political financing was set up following a backlash over the RM2.6 billion scandal surrounding Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.