Research carried out by
7 Key Takeaways: Cost of Politics
7 Key Takeaways: Cost of Politics
Population: 35.5 million
Head of Government: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
Ruling party/coalition: Pakatan Harapan
Last election: 2022
Next election: 2028
Number of registered voters: 21.2 million
Annual salary of member of legislature: USD 71,160 (inclusive of benefits)
Year of study: 2025
Nomination deposits, standardised across parliamentary and state seats, create substantial upfront financial barriers that disproportionately impact newcomer candidates and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, particularly those in rural constituencies where multiple local council jurisdictions can compound costs.
Political party affiliation creates cost burden variations, with established parties providing material support while newer parties require candidates to self-finance campaigns, creating a two-tier system that particularly disadvantages women, youth, and PWD who have limited access to resource-rich party nominations.
Campaign costs follow a consistent hierarchy with physical materials as the dominant expense, but geographic context fundamentally shapes cost structures as rural constituencies require substantially higher investments in physical infrastructure due to limited digital alternatives, compounding disadvantages for marginalised candidates.
Cultural expectations create hidden "societal dues" for women politicians through heightened community financial support obligations and intensified public scrutiny that generate additional costs for reputation management and security.
Youth candidates face a "credibility tax" that requires disproportionate investment in relationship-building and legitimacy establishment activities.
Substantial personal campaign investments create post-election governance risks through policy capture pressures and expense recovery expectations, that can potentially compromise legislative integrity.
Constituent expectations for continuous financial support create substantial ongoing cost burdens that extend indefinitely beyond campaign periods, transforming political representation into personal welfare provision and creating unsustainable financial pressures particularly for representatives with limited personal wealth.
Population: 35.5 million
Head of Government: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
Ruling party/coalition: Pakatan Harapan
Last election: 2022
Next election: 2028
Number of registered voters: 21.2 million
Annual salary of member of legislature: USD 71,160 (inclusive of benefits)
Year of study: 2025
Key Findings
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Context
- Malaysia operates as a federal parliamentary democracy with a Westminster-style system featuring both federal and state-level elections. Following the 15th general election in November 2022, Malaysia's political landscape has been characterised by unprecedented fragmentation, with no single coalition securing a clear majority.
- Demographic representation patterns reveal persistent underrepresentation of women, youth, and PWD, with women comprising less than 15% of parliamentary representatives and the average age of an MP estimated at 52. The Undi18 voting age amendment to 18 years has increased youth electoral participation but has not translated into significant increases in young candidates.
- Malaysia's campaign finance regulation operates under the Elections Offences Act 1954, which established spending limits, that remain unchanged, of RM200,000 (USD $47,620) for parliamentary candidates and RM100,000 (USD $23,800) for state assembly candidates, with no variations based on constituency characteristics such as geographic size or population density.
- The Malaysian political economy is characterised by extensive state intervention through government-linked companies that maintain a significant presence across banking, construction, telecommunications, and media sectors. These GLCs have historically served as crucial sources of both legitimate business partnerships and covert political funding
Cost of politics dynamics
- The standardised deposit amounts create stratified barriers rather than universal exclusion. But this creates a structural advantage that reinforces existing political hierarchies as established parties can recruit candidates without imposing personal financial risk, while newer political movements must find candidates capable of personal financial investment, effectively limiting their talent pool to those with existing wealth or access to capital networks.
- Geographic context fundamentally shapes campaign cost structures in Malaysia, creating systematic variations that particularly disadvantage candidates in rural and semi-urban constituencies.
- Party internal advancement operates as a financially intensive screening mechanism separate from general elections, requiring substantial personal investment before candidates can achieve party nomination eligibility.
- The obstacles posed by incumbency advantages impact first-time candidates, especially those from underrepresented groups, who often self-fund their campaigns, as they face not just the challenge of competing against established politicians' name recognition and networks, but also against their resource advantages.
Dynamics for marginalised groups
- The gendered nature of political fundraising in Malaysia creates systematic barriers that function as donor-mediated screening mechanisms. Major donors, both companies and wealthy business individuals, often base funding decisions on perceived winnability and established, largely male-dominated, political networks. As a result, women face "structural disadvantages" even in "politically established parties" where they "may not have the same financial access or firepower like a lot of other men".
- Rural women, who typically lack both substantial personal wealth and access to major donor networks, experience these challenges most acutely creating baseline disadvantages that amplify the barriers to political success.
- Rural infrastructure inadequacies creates accessibility barriers that function as cost multiplication mechanisms for PWD candidates, though the actual burden varies significantly across constituency characteristics and disability type.
- Age-based skepticism establishes baseline legitimacy requirements that disproportionately burden first-generation political participants. Extended financial commitments for validation activities create temporal disadvantages where youth candidates must invest across multiple electoral cycles in credibility establishment before achieving competitive positioning among both parties and voters.
- Party candidate selection appears to increasingly prioritise fundraising ability over qualifications, creating merit-versus-money tensions in democratic representation. This financial screening, which occurs across both established and newer parties, creates structural disadvantages for newcomers and marginalised candidates.
Implications
- The system effectively creates a patron-client relationship where political representation becomes contingent on personal financial provision rather than policy advocacy, making political office financially viable only for candidates with substantial independent wealth or access to ongoing funding networks that can support these consistent financial obligations.
- The fundraising requirements for seeking office can distort policy priorities and create incentive structures for corruption that can undermine legislative independence and democratic accountability.
- Individuals invest in substantial personal resources with the implicit assumption that they can be reclaimed later when holding political office through business connections, contract opportunities, or other financial benefits that flow from political office even though efforts to boost transparency around governance are making this more difficult.
- Traditional representative functions have transformed into direct welfare provision responsibilities while high political costs create self-reinforcing cycles that entrench existing power structures, fundamentally distorting democratic representation through two interconnected mechanisms. Constituents now approach elected officials as primary sources of personal financial assistance rather than policy advocates, while cost barriers systematically limit democratic renewal by favouring established politicians.
Recommendations
- Enact political financing legislation with donation caps, mandatory party-level reporting, and real-time disclosure during campaign periods.
- Equalise Constituency Development Fund allocations thereby ensuring identical amounts for all elected representatives regardless of party affiliation or status.
- Establish women's political development funds within political parties to provide training, skills-building, and seed funding for first-time female candidates that include provisions, where needed, for childcare support programmes.
- Reform political party structures to enhance youth engagement by lowering the maximum age youth wings, expanding skills-building initiatives for emerging young leaders, and creating mentorship opportunities that provide practical experience and clear advancement routes within political organisations.
- Implement comprehensive political literacy curriculum in secondary schools covering representative roles, democratic processes, and appropriate constituent-representative relationships.
