Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said the EC could require all parties to submit a proposal on the estimated amount needed for their campaign activities during any elections.

Speaking at a public forum on political financing reforms, the former finance minister said the move would ensure better monitoring of where the money was spent and where it all came from.

“The funds of political parties for election purposes should be managed by the EC. Under a law, parties should submit a proposal or an estimate as to how much they would need to spend for political activities during a by-election or general election.

“We could then police the amount of money used and how the money is obtained,” he said.

Tengku Razaleigh, fondly known as Ku Li, added that to ensure political candidates do not abuse or misuse funds during elections, any sum of money spent beyond the initial estimate would be charged to the candidates.

He said to further discourage the misuse of funds, a candidate could be disqualified from the polls, even if he or she won, if an excess amount of money had been taken from the funds.

Speaking at the same forum, economist Edmund Terence Gomez said a system was needed to reflect the cost of political activities in each constituency.

He said in rural constituencies especially, the amount of funds available was too low when taking into account the difficulties and expenses to travel to those areas and serve the people.

“The amount of money needed for politicians to do constituency work is limited and does not reflect what is truly needed on the ground. We need to come up with a system which is fair so that politicians can serve their constituencies well.”

Gomez also called for transparency on the source of these funds to ensure there was no abuse.

The forum, which discussed the Malaysian-Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) controversy, corruption, and political financing reform, was organised by the Agora Society Malaysia and Rasuah Busters.