'Legislate equal allocation for all MPs, don't leave it to govt's whims'

Civil societies and a Johor assemblyperson have mooted enshrining equal allocation for all lawmakers into law so that such a practice will no longer be up to the whims of the government.

Bersih chairperson Thomas Fann, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs deputy research director Sri Murniati Yusuf and Muda’s Puteri Wangsa assemblyperson Amira Aisya Abd Aziz urged for this timely legislation during Bersih’s online forum last night.

Sri Murniati pointed out that the constituency development funds for parliamentarians come from the prime minister’s special allocation, which is meant to provide aid to the people by addressing gaps in project funding.

“There is a clear need at the local level for expedited small projects, such as for blocked drains or if the air conditioning at the local mosque is not working.

“The ones who can give assistance for such purposes quite fast is the MP’s office, so giving allocation to lawmakers equally should not depend on negotiations.

“We need to institutionalise this. We need to create legislation that actually makes it mandatory for any government in power to provide this allocation because we know there is a need for this kind of allocation at the local level,” she said.

Bersih has been pushing for equal allocation for a while now and Fann said the time has come for the government under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s leadership to implement this.

Among other reasons, he said it is a matter of principles and moving onto a new stage of political maturity.

“If it was wrong to you (Anwar) when you were in the opposition, it is wrong of you today not to give to the opposition. (You) need to have principles.

“It is about time Malaysia moves to the next level of political maturity. We have to bring an end to 'winner takes all and the loser gets nothing'.

“We have to respect the opposition as duly elected representatives of the rakyat. The rakyat is not just those whose votes formed the government,” Fann said.

Equal funding vs equitable allocation

Amira, who also advocated for such legislation, said she understands the government may worry that giving equal allocation would provide the opposition with an advantage.

She then pointed to the move of the Johor government, which announced equal funding for all assemblypersons in the state in its Budget 2022.

“Such a move actually gave the government a better image.”

Amira said she, however, does not exactly support equal funding. Instead, she would prefer equitable allocation as different constituencies have different needs.

Sri Murniati added to this, saying that there are many indicators of a constituency which could affect how much of the constituency development fund it would need, such as poverty levels.

PAS’ Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari, who was also one of the forum’s panellists, agreed with the idea of equitable funding.

But given that the government is still undecided on equal allocation, he argued that the discourse on equitable funding still has a long way to go.

Yesterday, Anwar said in the Dewan Rakyat that there should be discussions held on equal funding.

He also denied rejecting any requests for opposition MPs to be granted equal allocations as government lawmakers.

“In principle, I do not reject giving equal allocation to the opposition as what is given to government MPs. That has been my consistent stance.

“However, the discussion process has not taken place, and instead there is prevalent animosity. My suggestion is to start the discussion.

“If discussions can be concluded tomorrow, the day after we can approve (the funds),” Anwar quipped.

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