Money politics: Seeking help of the lords of the purse<\/p>\n
B. Herry-Priyono, Researcher, Alumnus, London School of Economics<\/p>\n
On Friday Sept. 13, when Mahfudz Djailani admitted that he had
\npaid Rp 200 million to 40 councillors as down payment of a total
\nof Rp 2 billion if they elected him to the post of Jakarta
\nGovernor, people must have been angered and burst into laughter
\nsimultaneously.<\/p>\n
Angered, as politics had become so low. And they would have
\nlaughed because the news revealed the obvious anyway.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Sept. 16, when Mahfudz retracted his admission and
\ndecided not to reveal the names of the 40 councillors as he had
\nthreatened to, people must have laughed even harder. Probably not
\nbecause the information was untrue, but because the legal
\nimplications of revealing the names seems to have scared him. As
\nwe know, \"law\" is not synonymous with \"truth\".<\/p>\n
With or without anger cum laughter, money politics seems to be
\na misnomer. There has never been politics without money as much
\nas there is no money without politics. Money and politics are
\nlike Siamese twins that can almost not be separated with surgery.
\nIndeed, no form of politics could deal forever with the insidious
\npower of wealth -- particularly portable and negotiable wealth.<\/p>\n
Imagine the following hypothetical scenario. You are the
\npresident of a country called Indonesia, and, for whatever
\nreasons, you want to secure your seat in the 2004 general
\nelections. What would you need? -- To secure the machine of
\nfinancial resources. Where are such financial machines located?
\nThere are at least three cities you must control: Jakarta,
\nSurabaya and Medan. Not because they represent Indonesia, but
\nbecause in these cities are located the lords of the purse.<\/p>\n
Who are they? Business tycoons, big businesses and other
\nfinancial oligarchs. So, the stage is set for either comedy or
\ntragedy. You may wish to believe that the interests of
\nadministrative power (your presidency and the governorship of
\nJakarta) could be insulated from the influence of financial power
\n(tycoons, big businesses and other lords of the business).
\nSimilarly, you may wish the financial power could be insulated
\nfrom administrative power.<\/p>\n
Machiavelli would have risen from his grave and rushed to say
\nthat such insulation is wishful thinking. What works is what is
\ndone. The normative is of course not so, but norm is a rhetorical
\nbubble that is there to work as a facade. The more vacuous and
\nmerrier the rhetorical bubble, the better.<\/p>\n
Then, suppose that some of your close friends were business
\ntycoons. They may look indifferent toward the battle for the
\nJakarta gubernatorial race. Their \"indifference\" is quite
\ndeceptive. This apparent indifference simply comes from the fact
\nthat they, unless they run as formal candidates, are officially
\nnot part of the state apparatus or would-be state apparatus.<\/p>\n
This, however, does not conceal the fact that they have every
\nstake in the gubernatorial race. If there is no business outside
\nthe definition of administrative power (and vice versa), there is
\nalso no business that is disinterested in the struggle for
\nadministrative power.<\/p>\n
It is here that a \"parasitical symbiosis\" is forged. You, as
\npresident of Indonesia, have every interest to have a Jakarta
\ngovernor as your lieutenant who will secure the votes for your
\n2004 presidential race.<\/p>\n
But, above all, you and the would-be governor have every
\ninterest to secure financial resources, either for your personal
\npocket, your own business, or for funding your 2004 presidential
\nambition. On the part of your friends (some business magnates),
\nthey have every interest to have a president and a Jakarta
\ngovernor who supports their businesses, either in the more
\ngeneral sense as a pro-business climate, or as a personal
\nconnection.<\/p>\n
They will not support a president or a Jakarta governor who
\ntakes the side of the urban poor vis-a-vis their industrial or
\nfinancial interests. Some of them would not even hesitate to
\nraise thousands of mercenaries to back their ambitions with
\nnecessary violence.<\/p>\n
Suppose I decided to run as candidate in the Jakarta
\ngubernatorial race. Suppose also that I have a good platform and
\nprogram, am considered qualified -- professionally, managerially,
\nintellectually -- and I have broad support from most Jakartans.
\nWhat do I lack? First, money. Second, financial support from many
\nbusiness oligarchs. Third, control over the Jakarta City Council
\nthat does not necessarily represent the will of the Jakarta
\npopulace.<\/p>\n
One may think that the members of the City Council were angels
\nwith constant eyes on the agonies of ordinary Jakartans, who
\nwould thus vote for the most qualified candidate to deal with the
\nproblems of a city in agony. That is of course a farce. Once we
\nknow that the council is also made up of people who, on the
\nwhole, are guided by considerations of self-interest, the mystery
\nis solved.<\/p>\n
Then the question shifts as to whether I could make the
\nhighest bid. Such a bid of course does not take place overtly,
\nfor secrecy is the mother of collusion. Law is good, but it is
\nlittle more than rhetorical bubble in this politico-economic
\nmorass.<\/p>\n
I would also have to make the highest bid to the president who
\nhas every stake to control Jakarta, Medan and Surabaya. In total,
\nthe amount may reach billions or trillions of rupiah, either
\nfixed or negotiated. If I want to be a ruler in Surabaya, perhaps
\nI need to spend Rp 100 billion. I would guess in Jakarta the bid
\nreaches hundreds of billion or some trillions. Alas, I was not
\nelected, for if I were, I would chase back what I have invested
\non.<\/p>\n
So the stage is set for the game of administrative autocrats
\nand financial oligarchs. In the meantime, the pangs of brutish
\nsurvival of the ordinary Jakartans rumble on, as if nothing has
\nhappened. Of course the tragedy enters into the collective
\nsubconscious of the masses. No wonder once in a while we find the
\nangry mobs revolting.<\/p>",
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