How to check a candidate
This page sets out what you can actually find out about a candidate before you vote, where the official records are, and what those records do not cover. It does not tell you who to vote for.
This page will not tell you who to vote for, and it will not score anybody. What it can do is show you which questions have a checkable answer, where that answer is published, and where the record simply runs out. What you weigh, and how much, is yours.
Start with which job you are filling. A ballot paper for Parliament elects an MP; a state ballot elects an ADUN. They are different institutions with different powers, and in most years you vote in only one of them. Parliament makes federal law and votes on federal money. A state assembly legislates on the State List. If the thing you care most about is a school, a hospital or the police, that is a Federal List subject; if it is local roads, drains or your council, that is state and local territory, and in Peninsular Malaysia your councillors are appointed by the state, not elected by you. A representative can lobby, ask questions and chase agencies on anything, but the power to decide sits where the Ninth Schedule puts it. Judging a candidate against a job they will not hold is the most common way to end up disappointed.
Then check they can legally hold it. The Constitution sets a short list. Article 47 asks for a citizen resident in the Federation who meets its age requirement, and notably does not require living in the seat contested, so a candidate who is "not from here" is not thereby disqualified. Article 48 is the disqualifying list: unsound mind, undischarged bankruptcy, an office of profit, a failure to file an election-expense return, a conviction carrying a sentence above the thresholds the Article sets without a free pardon, and foreign citizenship. Two of those grounds can be lifted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and otherwise they lapse after five years. This matters in practice because a conviction that sounds disqualifying may not be, and one that sounds minor may be. For the current thresholds and the qualifying age, use the Election Commission's guidance for the election in front of you rather than an undated copy of the Constitution, for the reason set out under Contested above.
Then look at the record that actually exists. For a sitting MP, Parliament publishes the Hansard and the Votes and Proceedings, which record who was present and, when a division is called, who voted which way. That is the primary source, and it is searchable. What does not appear to exist is an official scorecard that adds it all up per member. Independent trackers do build those summaries, and they can be genuinely useful, but they are compilations rather than official records, so treat a number you find on one as a claim to check rather than a fact. For court matters, the judiciary publishes judgments and Sabah and Sarawak run their own portal, but finding nothing is not proof that there is nothing: unpublished judgments and pending matters may not surface. On assets, there is no comprehensive law requiring every MP to publish theirs, so an absence of a declaration usually tells you about the state of the law rather than about the candidate.
Read the manifesto for what it can deliver. A manifesto is a political promise, not a contract: the Court of Appeal held in 2013 that a manifesto is not legally enforceable. That does not make it worthless, but it changes what it is evidence of. The useful test is whether the promise sits at the right level of government. A state candidate promising to change federal law, or a parliamentary candidate promising to fix your council's drains, is promising something the office does not control. Where a promise involves money or jobs offered in exchange for a vote, that is no longer a manifesto question at all, and the Election Offences Act calls it bribery.
Know what the campaign rules already forbid, so you can tell ordinary politics from something reportable. The Act names four corrupt practices: personation, treating, undue influence and bribery. There is a legal ceiling on what a candidate may spend, and after the result is gazetted the expense return can be inspected by any member of the public. If you want to know what a campaign in your seat cost, that is the document to ask for.
What this page cannot do for you. It cannot tell you how to weigh honesty against competence, a good local record against a party you disagree with, or a strong candidate in a weak coalition. Those are the actual decision, and they are not facts to be looked up. What the record can do is make sure that whatever you decide, you decided it about the real job, the real rules and the real evidence.
That is the answer. Everything below is the working: each claim the explanation rests on, labelled with how certain it is and linked to where it came from. You can stop here.
The working
What the sources say
16 claims, 16 of them carrying a linked source. Each one shows how certain it is — that label is written in the knowledge base alongside the claim, not decided here.
How to read the labels
- established
- multiple independent reliable sources, and uncontested.
- contested
- reliable sources disagree, or official and independent accounts differ.
- uncertain
- genuinely unknown at the time of writing.
What the job actually is
established
Parliament passes and amends federal law, examines government policy, and approves federal spending and taxes. An ordinary Member of Parliament can speak, ask questions, table permitted motions and vote, but does not personally direct a ministry or agency.
established
Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet, whose members are appointed under Article 43 and are collectively responsible to Parliament. Being a minister is a separate appointment from being elected an MP.
established
An ADUN is a member of a State Legislative Assembly, not of Parliament. Under Articles 73 and 74 a State Legislature may legislate for its state on State List and Concurrent List matters, while Parliament legislates on Federal List and Concurrent List matters.
established
The Ninth Schedule puts education, medicine and health, and internal security and police on the Federal List; local government, state works and non-federal roads on the State List; and public health and sanitation, town and country planning, drainage and irrigation, housing and water services on the Concurrent List. Which representative can act on a given complaint depends on which list it falls under, and Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territories have their own arrangements.
established
In Peninsular Malaysia, section 10 of the Local Government Act 1976 provides for a mayor or president and other councillors to be appointed by the State Authority. Local councillors there are appointed rather than elected. The Act applies to West Malaysia; Sabah and Sarawak have their own local-government legislation.
Who is allowed to stand
established
Article 47 qualifies a citizen resident in the Federation to be a member of the House of Representatives, subject to the age requirement it sets and to the disqualifications in Article 48. It requires residence in the Federation, not residence in the particular constituency being contested.
established
Article 48 disqualifies a person who is of unsound mind, is an undischarged bankrupt, holds an office of profit, has failed to lodge a required election-expense return in time, has been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment or a fine above the thresholds the Article sets and has not received a free pardon, has voluntarily acquired or exercised the rights of foreign citizenship, or is disqualified under federal election-offence law.
established
For the expense-return and conviction grounds, the disqualification may be removed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and otherwise ends five years after the return was due or after release from custody or the imposition of the fine.
established
A nomination paper must be proposed and seconded by registered electors of the constituency being contested, and a deposit must be paid by the time fixed on nomination day. The Election Commission publishes the amounts and the timetable for each election.
established
The Election Commission's MySPR Semak service is where a voter checks electors, candidates and results, and the government's digital-services directory lists the official candidate list for an election.
What is on the public record about a sitting representative
established
Parliament publishes the Dewan Rakyat Hansard, with a searchable digital archive, and separately publishes Votes and Proceedings. Under the Standing Orders those records include the names of members present and, where a division is taken, the names of those voting for and against.
established
The Malaysian judiciary publishes court judgments through an official judgment-search service, and Sabah and Sarawak operate their own e-Kehakiman portal with case and judgment search.
What campaign conduct the law forbids
established
Part III of the Election Offences Act 1954 defines the corrupt practices at an election. Section 7 covers personation, applying for a ballot paper in another person's name or applying again after already voting. Section 8 covers treating, corruptly providing food, drink or the means to obtain them to influence or reward a vote. Section 9 covers undue influence, including force, threats and interference with the free exercise of an electoral right. Section 10 covers bribery, giving or promising money, valuable consideration or employment to induce a vote.
established
Section 19 makes it an illegal practice for a candidate or election agent to incur election expenses above the maximum the Act allows.
established
Candidates and election agents must lodge a return of election expenses after the result is gazetted, and the Act provides for a notice stating when and where that return may be inspected by any person.
Manifestos
established
In 2013 the Court of Appeal held that an election manifesto was not legally enforceable, striking out a claim brought over an unfulfilled manifesto pledge. A manifesto is a political commitment rather than a contract a voter can sue on.
What is still argued over
Where reliable sources disagree
These are set out side by side, with each position attributed to whoever holds it. No winner is picked.
uncertain
The minimum age to stand for the House of Representatives is not stated here because the available sources disagree. The Federal Constitution reprint hosted by the Judicial Appointments Commission gives twenty-one years in Article 47, but that same reprint also gives twenty-one years as the voting age in Article 119, which the Undi18 amendment lowered to eighteen with effect from 15 December 2021. The reprint therefore predates those amendments and cannot be relied on for either age. Secondary sources say the candidacy age was lowered to eighteen by the same amendment. Until the current authoritative text is cited, this page states the requirement without a figure; the Election Commission publishes the qualifying criteria for each election.
Federal Constitution of MalaysiaBernamaElection Commission Malaysia
uncertain
Parliament publishes attendance and division records sitting by sitting, but no official consolidated record that aggregates every vote into a single profile for each MP was found. Independent sites compile such summaries; those are useful but are not official records, and their coverage and maintenance vary.
contested
Malaysia has no comprehensive statutory regime requiring all Members of Parliament and ministers to declare their assets publicly. The Dewan Rakyat passed a motion in 2019 requiring members then sitting to declare assets to the Speaker, and the government said in March 2024 that a new declaration format had been finalised for Cabinet's consideration. A revised asset-declaration framework for public officers took effect in June 2026, which is a separate matter from members of Parliament.
contested
Whether the law bars a government from announcing new projects or policies once a campaign has begun is unsettled. The Prime Minister said in June 2026 that such announcements were not allowed during a campaign, citing section 24B of the Election Offences Act; the text of section 24B addresses campaign materials, campaign offices and public meetings by candidates and election agents rather than government announcements. The think tank IDEAS said in 2026 that Malaysia still lacks published caretaker-government guidelines.