Analyst warns of money politics

Analyst warns of money politics

JAKARTA: Writing down names on blank paper or crossing out the
printed names of candidates at the gubernatorial election on
Sept. 11 carried the potential for money politics, an analyst
said over the weekend.

"Both are the same. City councillors can easily use these
methods for money politics," said Tom Pasaribu, the chairman of
the Legislative Empowerment and Supervisory Committee (KP3I).

The 11 factions at City Council are divided over the voting
procedure for the Sept. 11 election, particularly on how they
vote for the governor and deputy governor. Golkar and the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle factions prefer the
method of writing down the names of candidates, rather than
crossing out names on paper.

But Tom was quoted by Detik.com as saying that writing down
candidates' names was the easiest way to encourage money
politics.

"I agree that they shouldn't write down names in the
elections. I think there is something suspicious in their
preference of using that particular method," he said.

He said the problem should be tackled by the election
committee and not by the councillors at the plenary session as
had been planned. --JP