Political corruption in Malaysia is multi-faceted, multi-layered and deep rooted. In 2015, revelations brought about by the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal became a turning point in Malaysia’s history. The global scandal prompted civil society groups and ordinary citizens to mobilise and call for transparency and accountability in political funding. Numerous recommendations to improve transparency in our political financing system have been submitted to the government over the years and Pakatan Harapan (PH) came close to tabling the Political Financing Bill in Parliament before the government collapsed during the Sheraton Move in February 2020.

This paper provides some insight into the relationship between voter and politician by discussing the findings from a series of workshops IDEAS conducted with youth wings from political parties across Malaysia on the topic of political financing. To try and understand the perspective of voters, in May 2021 IDEAS commissioned a survey to understand Malaysians’ perception of politicians. The findings from this survey will be presented and discussed, which will contribute to understanding the linkages between voter expectations and political financing.