It also urged the special committee formed to deliberate on the report to do so in a transparent way so that the public could be kept informed.
The report submitted to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin included 49 recommendations to address issues in the Malaysian electoral system and put Malaysia on par with the advanced democracies.
In a statement, IDEAS manager for the democracy and governance unit Aira Azhari said “the public is entitled to know and participate in the discourse to reform our electoral system,” and asked for a clear timeline to be given regarding the implementation of the proposals.
“Any change in our electoral system must be carried out with full transparency. Furthermore, with a general election potentially looming this year, it is important for these recommendations to be discussed and debated publicly.”
Further, IDEAS welcomed the ‘Public Funding of Political Parties in Malaysia: Debates, Case Studies and Recommendations’ study from Bersih 2.0, which advocates for public funding of political parties to reduce the influence of private funds, tycoons and corporations.
Aira also expressed support for the proposal from Bersih 2.0 to allocate additional funding to parties based on female representation.
“As we are well aware, our Parliament currently only has 14.4% female MPs, which is not nearly enough. If this public funding model can incentivise parties to showcase more female candidates, and to allocate more resources towards training female political leaders, IDEAS definitely supports it.”
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