Discriminatory constituency funds a crime against democracy

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections 2.0 (BERSIH 2.0) condemns as a crime against democracy the reported discriminatory practices where constituency funds would be given to the Barisan Nasional (BN) representatives based on the BN’s electability.
First broken by Sin Chew Daily, it was reported that “white areas” for the BN would receive up to RM 2.5 million, “grey areas” RM1 -2 million while “black areas” would get 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 fund as an election tool to induce support is a shameless and corrupt act of misusing public funds, it isan insult to the celebration of Merdeka, as voters should not be effectively forced to vote for a particular party in order to gain access to this funding.
BERSIH 2.0 calls upon the Federal and all state governments – from both Barisan Nasional(BN) and Pakatan Rakyat(PR) – to respect democracy and stop the current practices of giving constituency development funds to only their party representatives. This latest discriminatory practice is but the height of such feudal and kleptocratic mentality.
BERSIH 2.0 states that this underscores the need for legislation to prohibit and criminalise all misconduct that blurs the boundary between party and state or which abuses state resources for partisan purposes.
Steering Committee
Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH 2.0)
The Steering Committee of BERSIH 2.0 comprises:
Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan (Chairperson), Andrew Khoo, Arul Prakkash, Arumugam K., Dr Farouk Musa, Liau Kok Fah, Maria Chin Abdullah, Richard Y W Yeoh, Dr Subramaniam Pillay, Dato’ Dr Toh Kin Woon, Dr Wong Chin Huat, Dato’ Yeo Yang Poh and Zaid Kamaruddin.