KUALA LUMPUR: The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) has expressed its disappointment towards the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for his failure to ensure the distribution of constituency development funds (CDF) to the members of parliament (MPs), especially to the opposition.
The Bersih steering committee in a statement said the failure had led to a few opposition MPs, namely Kuala Kangsar (Datuk Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid), Labuan (Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman), Gua Musang (Mohd Azizi Abu Naim) and most recently Jeli (Zahari Kechik), declaring their support for the prime minister's leadership and the federal government.
Their move was made on the ground of the need for funding allocations for their respective constituencies.
"The Madani government's withholding of CDF allocations from being distributed to Perikatan Nasional (PN) MPs is unfair because the funds are given only to those who support the government.
"Bersih disagrees that CDF allocations to opposition MPs be made conditionally, when all MPs are entitled to such allocations whichever party they belong to. The opposition MPs are also chosen by the people, hence the Madani government must respect the choice of the voters in the opposition MP's constituency and refrain from using CDFs as bargaining chips to obtain support from opposition representatives," read the statement.
Bersih added that PN MPs' PN MPs' endorsement of the federal government reflected the lamentable political climate prevalent in contemporary Malaysia, wherein individuals who supported the government were granted public funding, while those who opposed it were denied such funding.
The committee said it had always objected to such unfair distribution of CDFs whilst Pakatan Harapan (PH), under their 15th General Election manifesto, agreed to eliminate such malpractice, which started during the days of the Barisan Nasional administration and continued during the PN administration.
"Bersih reiterates our call to the Madani government and PN to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in bringing about institutional reforms that ensure political stability and a level playing field for all parties.
"This is just like the MoU that was agreed between the Keluarga Malaysia government of (Datuk Seri) Ismail Sabri and PH on Sept 13, 2021."
Bersih said such MoU would enable both the government and opposition to work together and compete professionally in overcoming national economic challenges and improving the people's well-being.
"Besides the codification of laws for the equitable and fair distribution of CDFs to all MPs and state assembly representatives, the MoU may also list other items.
"This includes public funding for all parties according to their respective percentage of votes received, the recognition of a shadow cabinet, the deepening of parliamentary reformation, the Fixed Term Parliament Act, as well as the separation of the office of the Public Prosecutor from the Attorney General's Chambers.'
It said if both the government and PN were reluctant to take the first step in moving negotiations for the MoU, both parties could request assistance from the Senate president Tan Sri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who contributed to the implementation of institutional reforms in the 2021-2022 MoU, and also the Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul, as honest brokers in facilitating negotiations for the sake of the people.