And the Cambridge Analytica scandal is having huge ramifications in Malaysia, where voters head to the polls next week for a hotly-contested general election. The British consultancy firm is alledged to have interfered in the 2013 poll, helping the ruling party to win a key state. But as Rian Maelzer reports from the capital city Kuala Lumpur, the allegations also have consequences for the main opposition party.

Amid the blue flags of the ruling Barisan Nasional or BN and the opposition Pakatan Harapan, a red flag of foreign involvement in the previous election campaign. And by a company embroiled in a global scandal for allegedly having mined Facebook data. Cambridge Analytica boasted that they helped Barisan win back the state of Kedah from the opposition with a targeted messaging campaign about school improvements. With the company in the headlines for the wrong reasons, the Opposition were quick to seize on the claim.

SHOLTO BYRNES INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, MALAYSIA "The revelations that came out about Cambridge Analytica made them completely toxic. Nobody wanted to be associated with them so it wasn't surprising that somebody raised this prospect in Malaysia and my own view on it is that the opposition raised it and it backfired on them."

RIAN MAELZER KUALA LUMPUR "The prime minister Najib Razak denied BN had ever directly engaged Cambridge Analytica. Instead, he accused Mukhriz Mahathir, son of the now-opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad, of having used the controversial company's service before he left the ruling party to join the opposition."

Cambridge Analytica's country rep then backed up the prime minister's claim though the company's website still says it worked for the ruling BN. Regardless, analysts say it raises troubling questions.

PROFESSOR TERENCE GOMEZ UNIVERSITY OF MALAYSIA "The key issue here is access to data. Where did this data come from? who gave Cambridge Analytica the data? The can also speak to the issue of abuse of power in channeling to a private source confidential data of citizens of Malaysia."

And it comes at an inconvenient time.

KEITH LEONG POLITICAL ANALYST, KRA GROUP "Nationalism always comes up in election times here so the use of foreign consultants and the use of foreign anything is controversial in an election cycle, so that's something that you want to tack onto your opponents. Whether it sticks or not, that's up to the voters."

But Leong says that issues such as political consulting and big data are not well understood here. And concerns like the rising cost of living are likely to have far more resonance with the electorate.

Rian Maelzer, CGTN, Kuala Lumpur.