Auditing rule to act as watchdog on party funding

JAKARTA (JP): In a bid to curb money politics, voters will know who is funding the 48 parties contesting the polls through a ruling to be enacted shortly.

Political parties are to report their funding transparently through auditing, in line with a planned decree by the General Elections Commission (KPU), commission member Andi A. Mallarangeng said on Thursday.

"Parties are allowed substantial donations, but they must abide by the law which stipulates the donation limit which parties can receive annually," Andi said in a discussion on elections held by the Dr. Soetomo Press Institute.

The law on political parties limits annual party donations to Rp 15 million from individuals and Rp 150 million from corporate bodies. Financial reports are to be submitted to the commission, which includes all party representatives.

The procedure was to safeguard against money politics, Andi, a former member of the Team of Eleven assigned to prepare groundwork for the commission, said.

"For instance, if a party spends Rp 1 billion for campaigns... we could learn where the money comes from and for what purpose."

The draft on the management of party funds containing details on party audits is being discussed between the Indonesian Accountants Association and KPU's subcommission C for financial affairs.

Issues debated included who would pay for the audits and sanctions for violations.

Andi said that only the National Mandate Party (PAN) carried advertisements welcoming donations in line with the law on donation limits for parties.

He said that financial transparency terms for legislative candidates included the necessity for candidates to submit reports of personal wealth to the national, provincial and regency election committees.

Guidelines for legislative candidates were decided by the commission on Tuesday in line with the new elections law.

Andi said information pertaining to candidates assets would provide data to help check on possibilities of corruption.

As of Thursday, there was no progress regarding the seat allocation for legislatures because population data was not ready. An executive from the Golkar Party, Rully Chairul Anwar, said the delay hampered registration of candidates for legislatures. The commission has ruled that this registration closes on April 27.

Separately, head of the National Elections Committee (PPI) Jacob Tobing, said while the election was barely two months away, many Indonesians overseas were unwilling to sit on election registration committees abroad. Many said they were busy working or studying.

"However, we will not extend the deadline (for voters' registration) at the 135 committees abroad."

On Thursday, Rudini met with several retired officers from the National Front, who said they were ready to help the commission in any way they could.

In a related development, a network of ballot-counting bodies comprising some 35 organizations will be set up next week, sociologist Alexander Irwan said on Thursday.

Alexander, who in 1995 coauthored a book on elections, said the network would enter all ballot counting results from every pooling booth through four computer servers in Jakarta, Surabaya in East Java and two more outside Java.

The group will enter the information through the Internet. Every 15 minutes new ballot results will be broadcast live on television channels, he said.

In East Java, the University Network for a Free and Fair Election (Unfrel) pledged to recruit 1,500 more volunteers.

"We will monitor parties' activities, especially Golkar," Unfrel coordinator Dadan S. Suharmiwijaya said. (edt/nur)