KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia supreme council member Wan Saiful Wan Jan told civil society groups championing political financing reform to get a dose of reality by visiting villages instead of remaining in upper middle class urban areas.

At a forum on political financing reforms organised by non-profit group G25 at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian & Country Club here, Wan Saiful observed that in Malaysia, civil society tends to preach to converts mainly in urban areas, instead of educating rural Malaysians on why they should not rely on political patronage.

"Politicians are reluctant to change (and be more transparent regarding political funding) because civil society failed to change society. We organise events like this in Bukit Kiara but we do not take it to Pendang or rural areas,” said Wan Saiful.

He said within two months of joining politics, he immediately thought of a "much bigger world than the Bangsar bubble”.

"While we move forward and keep pressure on PH so it remains on track, members of civil society must recognise the elements of hypocrisy in ourselves. We are brave to lobby people in Putrajaya but not in Pendang, Arau,” said Wan Saiful.

He said civil society and politicians must take the political financing reform agenda to the grassroots so that politicians can focus on legislation, instead of being pressured to do "charity work”.     

"The more we are talking ourselves and be happy holding events in Bukit Kiara instead of Pendang, Arau, or even Kerinchi... we will continue to talk to ourselves and no one will understand us since the people (at the) grassroot (level) don’t have access to media like we have,” he added.

"The access to the media means we are loud and we put pressure on the government to change but this is a failure of civil society to understand (the realities) for politicians on the ground,” said the rookie politician who failed to win the Pendang federal seat in Kedah during the last elections.

In his maiden run for office, Wan Saiful came in behind Umno and PAS in the race for Pendang in the 14th general election, polling 14,901 votes to Umno’s 20,728 and to PAS’ 26,536 votes.

Money needed to assist impoverished constituents

Wan Saiful admitted to sharing civil society’s naivete prior to leaving his position as CEO at the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) to become a politician, but his experience on the campaign trail has opened up his eyes.

His time in the Malay heartland of Kedah saw impoverished families unable to pay for basic medical needs, leading to family members suffering from infected open wounds and scars, as well as a wife who was forced to cage her mentally ill husband among others.

"I saw an 80-year-old grandmother who lived in a traditional split-level Malay kampung house. Her kitchen is on the ground floor and she lives on the first floor. She is old (and lives alone). She has to crawl up and down the stairs in order to get things from the kitchen.

"When I saw her, she was crying that she only gets RM200 a month from the Welfare Department and was crying, begging me to increase her welfare to RM300 a month if I was elected.

"She just wanted RM300 a month and here in KL, RM300 is lunch for some people,” said Wan Saiful, who had promised during campaigning to find the means to help the impoverished by canvassing companies, businessmen and the public for funds to help those in his constituencies.

Elaborating further, he said this was why many politicians needed a lot of money to service their constituents and it would be even more expensive for someone who lost the race when compared to the victor, since MPs and assemblymen received federal level funding while the losers did not.

BN’s vindictive political culture drove Opposition politicians to secrecy

He explained that under the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government, things were even worse for the Opposition since the ruling government played vindictive politics and would go after Pakatan Harapan (PH) funders and donors such as Supermax CEO Stanley Thai.

In order to protect their financial resources, then Opposition politicians had no choice but to remain tight-lipped on the source of their fundings.

"When I joined politics, I had to resign from all posts I had, including IDEAS. The reason I resigned was if I stayed in IDEAS, IDEAS would be victimised because politics (in Malaysia) is so vindictive.

"IDEAS is [an] organisation I built for eight years and IDEAS had to distance themselves from me the moment I left. It was painful for me to see, but that’s the reality of Malaysian politics. You take big risk in joining an opposition party (back then).

"The vindictiveness of Umno and BN under Najib’s rule made people like me and my donors really cautious about disclosing who is funding our political work,” he explained, referring to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Elections are very expensive

Wan Saiful also said election campaigns itself is an expensive affair since he had spent nearly RM200,000 when he contested the May 9 poll.

He explained that he spent RM50,000 on 5,000 T-shirts, RM50,000 on party flags, RM15,000 on renting five houses for his workers accommodation and storage of campaign materials, RM6,000 to rent two Toyota Hilux for three and a half weeks, and also paying his workers.

"Consider contesting in area where source of income is rubber or rice. You need to appreciate you are pulling them out from daily work they do (to help you campaign).

"Do you know how much scrap rubber sells for? RM1.80 per kg. 100kg = RM180. To get 100 kg, [they] need to work for a week. That’s if they’re lucky. If it rains, they have no income. So if you need their help to put up flags, you need to appreciate the time they took off their work.

"You need to buy them food, drinks, accommodation and appreciate how much they are helping you,” he said. That’s why it’s so expensive to run a campaign. Even after losing you still need people to help you run the show if you are outstation,” Wan Saiful explained.

At the end of his turn during the forum, Wan Saiful invited members of civil society to join him in educating and engaging with rural Malaysians on political financial reforms.