Kuala Lumpur, 30 January 2026: The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) released a report today highlighting the paucity of public information surrounding Constituency Development Funds (CDF) in Malaysia, raising concerns over transparency, accountability, and the use of public funds.

Titled Reporting and Disclosure Practices of Subnational CDFs in Malaysia, the report builds on IDEAS-BERSIH’ 2021 position paper Removal or Reform and provides a nationwide stocktake of how CDF allocations, spending and outcomes are reported across federal, state, and local government levels. The findings highlight that CDF information remains limited and mostly voluntary.

CDFs are intended to support Members of Parliament (MPs) and State Assemblypersons (ADUNs) with funds to address local needs in their constituencies, including infrastructure improvements, financial assistance for the vulnerable, and constituency operations. However, in Malaysia, CDFs have become increasingly associated with politicisation and opaque spending. Media reports have repeatedly suggested that CDF allocations may be influenced by political leverage rather than constituency needs, while the public has minimal visibility over how these funds are used.

“IDEAS first called for CDF legislation requiring public disclosure of key information in 2021, yet there has not been any meaningful progress since then. The lack of transparency is concerning, especially at the state level where oversight mechanisms remain weak despite the scale of public funds used”, said Sabrina Firdaus Aloysius, Senior Executive of Research at IDEAS.

Some of the key findings include:

• Selangor stands out as the only state with publicly available CDF-related information, primarily through disclosures by district and land offices (Pejabat Daerah dan Tanah – PDT). This reflects a brief period (2008–2010) in which disclosure was mandatory, albeit poorly enforced at the time. In 2024, three districts (Hulu Selangor, Kuala Selangor, and Kuala Langat) voluntarily disclosed CDF information.
• Even in the top performing Selangor districts, the quality of disclosures remains uneven. Information is often incomplete, outdated and difficult to access. Reporting tends to focus on activities rather than outcomes, offering little insight into whether CDF spending meaningfully benefits constituents.
• The data also reveals significant variation in fund utilisation, with constituencies held by government representatives consistently recording higher utilisation rates. ADUNs are more likely to exhaust category spending limits on office renovations and social assistance than on improving infrastructure.
• Overall, nationwide voluntary disclosure remains the exception rather than the norm. Between 2012 and 2024, only 34 out of 222 MPs published any form of constituency report cards, with just 12 MPs doing so in 2023–2024. At the state-level, only 17 ADUNs reported CDF spending between 2008 and 2024.

By identifying gaps and good practices, IDEAS aims to encourage higher standards of transparency across all levels of government. As the co-secretariat of the Multiparty Democracy Caucus (KDPP), IDEAS will use the findings for further discussion and advocacy for higher standards on CDF reform.

Three priority areas for reform discussion are:

1. Making all CDF detailed guidelines and circulars publicly available and accessible.
2. Establishing a formal mandate that requires data on allocations, project-specific expenditures, and outcomes to be published in a usable format.
3. Supporting compliance through robust enforcement mechanisms that could potentially be linked to the disbursement of future funds.

“CDFs are public funds meant to serve communities, not political interests. The politicisation of CDF disbursement has been a persistent problem in Malaysia for years, and centralises discretionary power on the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister at the state level. Furthermore, the public has the right to know where this money goes, how it is spent, and whether it delivers real benefits. Without transparency, accountability simply does not exist,” said Aira Azhari, IDEAS CEO.

For more information, please download the full paper on our website.

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Download the Media Statement PDF File Here

For enquiries, please contact:
Ryan Panicker
Assistant Manager, Advocacy and Events
T: 03 – 2070 8881/8882 | E: ryannesh@ideas.org.my