Parties under fire for recruiting actors, actresses<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Analysts criticized political parties on Wednesday for their lack
\nof commitment to quality elections, as reflected in the
\nnomination of several actors as legislative candidates.<\/p>\n
Smita Notosusanto from the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro)
\nsaid nominating celebrities as legislative candidates was a poor
\nstart for a country trying to develop a democracy through fair
\nand transparent elections.<\/p>\n
\"The upcoming election will be no different from previous
\nelections, when people never knew who represented them in the
\nlegislative bodies,\" Smita said.<\/p>\n
Major parties including the Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI Perjuangan), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and
\nthe Golkar Party announced recently that they were recruiting
\nsoap opera actors to run as legislative candidates.<\/p>\n
PDI Perjuangan has tapped actors Desy Ratnasari, Marissa Haque
\nand Deddy Sutomo, as well as singer Franky Sahilatua, and is said
\nto have approached another actor, Sophia Latjuba.<\/p>\n
The PKB, which is affiliated with the country's largest Muslim
\norganization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has listed actors Rieke Dyah
\nPitaloka and Ayu Azhari as candidates, while the Golkar Party has
\nenlisted Nurul Arifin.<\/p>\n
Riswanda Imawan from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta
\ncriticized political parties for their failure to change their
\nmind-set and continuing to regard general elections as \"political
\nentertainment\" rather than a forum to promote programs aimed at
\nserving public interests.<\/p>\n
\"I'm not underestimating the actors and actresses, but
\ncouldn't these parties offer a dialog with voters about their
\nplatforms instead of exploiting attractive people?\" Riswanda
\nasked.<\/p>\n
He suggested that activists concerned with gender issues
\nprotest the exploitation of women by political parties to garner
\nvotes.<\/p>\n
Smita said the House of Representatives should share the blame
\nfor the flawed recruitment process of legislative candidates,
\nwhich gives the central boards of parties a dominant role.<\/p>\n
\"During deliberation of the election bill at the House we
\nrepeatedly asked legislators to introduce articles to govern the
\nappointment of legislative candidates, especially the selection
\nitself and standard requirements (to be met by candidates).<\/p>\n
\"But legislators rejected the idea because they don't want to
\nlose their privileges. Now we only see 'questionable people'
\nrepresenting us at the House,\" Smita said.<\/p>\n
She said the public should be allowed to supervise the process
\nof selecting legislative candidates to examine whether money
\npolitics and nepotism were involved.<\/p>\n
Some parties are reportedly demanding that potential
\nlegislative candidates pay as much as Rp 400 million (US$47,000)
\nfor their nominations.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/parties-under-fire-for-recruiting-actors-actresses-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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