Claiming voter blackmail, Kedah MP pushes for new law to disburse constituency funds

KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — Opposition lawmaker Gooi Hsiao Leung is hoping to get Parliament to enact a new law to ensure a fairer and more transparent distribution of federal allocations for constituencies.

The Alor Setar MP said he was “compelled” to file a private member’s Bill today for a “Constituency Development Fund Bill 2017” after being allegedly threatened by Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah with a halt to federal funding for his constituency.

“It is a known fact that federal allocations for constituencies in opposition won seats are channeled through BN coordinators, usually the Umno division chief of the constituency,” Gooi said in a statement, referring to the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition and its anchor party.

He alleged that the Kedah mentri besar recently issued a statement that amounted to “blackmailing voters” in five Opposite-held constituencies by claiming that RM150 million worth of development funds allocated by Putrajaya could not be channelled to those territories.

He further claimed that Ahmad Bashah did not share with him the details of a RM23.73 million-disbursement meant for Alor Setar from the prime minister’s special allocation for all parliamentary constituencies.

He accused Ahmad Bashah who is also Alor Setar Umno chief and chairs the state action council of abusing his position to utilise the federal funds meant for MPs in their parliamentary constituencies.

“It is a known fact that the PM’s special constituency allocation has long been misused and abused by politicians to buy political support and allegiance, and for greedy politicians to siphon off public funds to enrich themselves or their cronies — resulting in poor project selections which do not ultimately benefit their constituents,” Gooi said.

The PKR supreme council member believes his private member’s Bill will be able to curb the improper distribution of federal funds meant for the people’s benefit.

Among Gooi’s proposals as listed in the Bill are the creation of a constituency development fund to be coordinated by the Federal Development Office in each state; a formal committee chaired by the MP on all projects within the constituency; a twice yearly public forum for feedback purposes; and a bipartisan parliamentary select committee to oversee and review the allocated funds.