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