Today, we are playing the Malaysian political board game “Build My-Town” with our organization partners. The game is a simulation of money laundering and political reforms in Malaysia, and each player takes on the role of a member of parliament.

In the game, we can choose to build our constituencies using either legally sourced money (Clean money) or illegally sourced money (Dirty money). We will also be given “Reform Cards”, which are like real life parliamentary votes, where each member of parliament has the right to decide whether a bill will be passed or not, and the cards contain the bills that are being pushed for in real life Malaysia.

For example, the foreign investment card at the top and right of the picture is an allusion to the “Najib's receipt of political donations from the Saudi Arabian government.” The incident happened in July 2015, when the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) indicted former Prime Minister Najib Razak for receiving US$680 million (about 22 billion Taiwan dollars) in political donations.This incident has caused widespread concern among local Malaysians and is part of the legal proceedings against Najib.

“Build My-Town” gives us a better understanding of the political events that have taken place in Malaysia and the important bills that are being implemented. It also gives us a better perspective on the important role of Parliament after the reforms were passed.