Budget constraints limit presidential campaigns

Budget constraints limit presidential campaigns

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Rendi Witular, Jakarta

Budget constraints have forced all five presidential tickets to
cut back on their campaign activities, forcing them to now focus
their spending on getting their candidates closer to the voters.

Citing difficulties in raising enough money for the month-long
campaign, the campaign teams are now concentrating on ensuring
that their respective candidates meet with as many voters as
possible.

"Out of our planned Rp 100 billion (US$10.75million) budget,
we have only actually raised half of this. That's why we have to
cut back on costs and focus our spending on introducing the
candidates to the public," said Rully Chairul Azwar, a campaign
manager for the Wiranto-Solahuddin Wahid ticket.

He said that most of the money came from businesspeople, with
the largest donations amounting to Rp 750 million. "Four or five
businesspeople give us that much," he said.

With its limited budget, he said Wiranto's team had to cut
back on various expenses. Of the planned 10 different television
commercials, we only made two, Rully said.

For each regency, the national team had only allocated 4,000
banners and a very limited number of posters and pamphlets, Rully
said. "We cannot provide the money for dialogs as we simply don't
have it," he added.

Earlier, the Megawati-Hasyim Muzadi campaign team voiced
similar complaints.

Campaign organizers for the Susilo-Jusuf Kalla ticket also
said that they needed to raise more funds.

"We're focusing our spending on the activities of both
candidates. We have received a lot of donations from
businesspeople, especially those in the Indonesian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (Kadin). But we are also staging a number
of fund-raising activities to support the campaign," campaign
team member Rachmat Witoelar said.

He said that the team also planned to reduce costs as they
expected the Susilo-Kalla ticket to get through to the runoff on
Sept. 20.

Azrul Azwar, a member of the Hamzah Haz presidential campaign
team, said that the donations they had received were very
limited.

"We are trying to do our best using what's available. We
estimated that the campaign would cost around Rp 100 billion, but
so far we've managed to raise much less than this," Azrul said.

He explained that the team relied mostly on donations from its
supporters rather than from the business community.

The only contented note was struck by the Amien Rais-Siswono
Yudhohusodo ticket, which is backed by the National Mandate Party
(PAN).

Icu Zukafril, an executive member of the campaign team, said
that the team had not faced any financial difficulties thus far
as it had adopted an effective fund-raising strategy.

He explained that the team had tasked various groups to hold
bazaars and exhibitions, the profits from which were transferred
to special campaign fund bank accounts.

"We don't rely on donations from businesspeople or
institutions. We try to encourage our supporters to develop their
own fund-raising schemes," said Icu.

"We estimated that we would need at least Rp 124 billion
(US$13.2 million) for the campaign, and we've managed to collect
that much," he said.

The team has also published the number of a special account in
advertisements appealing for public donations.

The team has thus far received more than Rp 100 million in
donations, and this was expected to reach Rp 1 billion by the end
of the month, said Icu.