Campaign laws 'full of loopholes'

A. Junaidi and Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta

Various loopholes in the campaign regulations are not only providing presidential candidates with ample opportunity to try to influence voters with gifts, but also making it difficult to properly punish them, according to experts.

The General Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) and a legal expert agreed on Thursday that little can be done to deal with the many "gray areas" in what constitutes buying votes.

The rulings say that presidential candidates found guilty of trying to buy votes will not only be instantly disqualified, but will also face a maximum sentence of 12 months and a maximum fine of Rp 10 million (US$1,176).

Yet, the handing out of basic commodities to low-income people, along with free medical services, transportation fees and other "donations" during the campaign -- all of which could be considered illegal -- has been going on with impunity on a daily basis nationwide, and is reportedly being done by all five presidential candidates' campaign activists.

They have been called "sympathetic campaigns" by the organizers.

The presidential election law states that candidates and their running mates or their campaign team members "are forbidden from promising or/and giving money or other forms of material items to influence voters."

Free medical service is neither money nor a material item -- unless one counts the pills handed out to patients -- and the candidates would say they had no intention of influencing voters.

Audience members at campaign rallies have come to expect "transportation fees" enough, say, for a week's transportation, regardless of whether they intend to even vote on July 5.

"Ethically, many cases could be categorized as 'money politics', but legally they could not been handled as such," Panwaslu chairman Komarudin Hidayat told legislators during a meeting with the House Commission II on legal affairs. He was responding to questions of why there was little, if any, action being taken despite many reports of suspected irregularities from various election watchdogs.

Didik Supriyanto, a Panwaslu member, said that the campaign regulations only defined "money politics" as handing over cash or material items during an actual campaign event.

"So if money (or other handouts) are given outside the rally venue or a day earlier or later, legally it would not be a violation," Didik explained. He added that the regulations did not mention the current trend of family members of candidates donating money to charity foundations or schools.

Noted legal expert Frans Hendra Winarta blamed "years of unhealthy processes of democratization" and the fact that politicians "had no qualms" in abusing the legal loopholes.

"Money politics ultimately comes down to political ethics. Even if the regulations contain loopholes, it would not happen if they possessed a high degree of political ethics.

"It's impossible for us to create a perfect ruling without any loopholes, especially when we're still in an early stage of democracy," said Frans.

But the rampant reports of trying to influence voters with handouts "will show us that improvements must be made -- be it in the form of regulations or in learning about ethics -- if we want to have a better form of democracy."

Those involved in it may easily get away with their actions, but Frans warned of the prospect of the real punishment from the voters.