Deputy Chair of DPR Commission II on Blacklisting Money Politics Perpetrators: An Interesting Idea!
JAKARTA - The Deputy Chair of DPR Commission II, Zulfikar Arse Sadikin, views the proposal by the General Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to include money politics perpetrators on a blacklist as an interesting idea to be discussed in the revision of the Election Law.
“An interesting idea. Moving forward, we need to change the orientation of election law enforcement from criminal to administrative,” Zulfikar said when contacted by reporters on Thursday (7/5/2026).
He stated that Bawaslu’s proposal will serve as material for discussion with all stakeholders in the process of drafting and deliberating the revision of the Election Law.
“What Bawaslu has conveyed can be an alternative. We just need to think about the technicalities. At the appropriate time, both in drafting and deliberation, we will invite all stakeholders to talk and discuss,” he concluded.
According to him, money politics perpetrators should not only be disqualified from the contestation but also banned from participating in the next election to provide a deterrent effect for cheating participants.
“Those who have been proven to have engaged in money politics should at least be barred from participating in the next election period, including regional head elections,” said Herwyn in a public discussion at the Bawaslu RI office in Jakarta on Wednesday (6/5/2026).
These three types of sanction proposals stem from the Constitutional Court ruling in 2025 that disqualified all candidate pairs in the 2024 Barito Utara Regency Head Election due to proven money politics.
He also proposed simplifying the requirements to prove administrative violations of money politics, no longer emphasising the structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) aspect. The reason is that the TSM requirement, especially regarding massiveness, has been difficult to prove so far.
However, according to him, money politics even on a small scale should be sufficient to cancel vote gains or disqualify proven candidates.
He explained that the paradigm of money politics has shifted, where cash transactions are starting to be replaced by money and digital asset transactions.
Herwyn also assessed that this digital money politics modus needs to be guarded against.
“It must also be emphasised that electronic means are included (in money politics), for example, it could be related to digital vouchers, credit,” he said.
Based on Bawaslu data, money politics was one of the five biggest election vulnerability cases in 2024. Recorded, there were 22 money politics cases at the provincial level and 256 cases at the regency/city level.