Governance, Integrity, Accountability and Transparency (Giat) coalition member Aira Azhari said the root cause of many issues plaguing the “New Malaysia” appeared to be related to development.

She said development issues were often related to big corporations, such as property developers, with links to politicians, which fuel a crony-capitalist culture.

Aira said there was, therefore, a need for total disclosure of the vested interests of politicians and the donations they received.

“The nexus between business and politics is so close and very opaque, and as citizens, we have the right to know who is funding our politicians and political parties.

“More often than not, the ones who pump money to politicians are the ones who get a say in these big development projects.

“It’s because of the extremely close link between business and politics that we need to regulate and we need to dismantle the ‘system’,” she said on the sidelines of the Giat-UNDP anti-corruption workshop in Batu Ferringhi here last night.

Aira, who is also with the think-tank IDEAS, said Pakatan Harapan promised to promulgate laws related to political funding in its election manifesto and it was time for public pressure to see it through.

“We are not saying that politicians and parties don’t need money, because that is unrealistic, but we are saying that we have the right to know how and where they get their funding.

“While the promises have been made and assurances were given, it needs a huge amount of public pressure. It is normal to have some resistance, as no one wants their skeletons to be bared.

“As citizens, all we want is accountability on where they get their money from,” she said.

In January, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad admitted that political funding was a big problem and that the government was finding ways to legislate it.

The National Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre had also said it was in talks with political parties for a Political Funding Bill to be presented to the Cabinet.