Election campaign bankrupts local council and DPD candidates

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Several candidates for the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) and the House of Representatives (DPR) were apparently so eager to serve the public that they bankrupted themselves trying to secure seats.

A candidate for the Jakarta City Council who declined to be identified said he had spent some Rp 2 billion since the beginning of the year on the election. Now he is worried he might not get a seat because his party did not perform as well as expected.

He said that before the elections, he was positive he would win a seat because the party had polled so well in Jakarta in the 1999 elections.

"I am broke because I spent all my savings to buy a high position on the party's list (of candidates) as well as to back the party's campaign, but it is not clear whether I will even get a seat or not," the candidate said.

Because he is retired, the man said he did not know how he would make money if he did not win a seat on the city council.

A candidate for the Tangerang City Council is looking for buyers for a relative's house valued at 135 million in order to cover his expenses as a candidate, a neighbor said.

"This candidate sold almost all his property to finance his campaigning. He sold everything and now he has to sell his relative's house to cover the costs," said Yanto, one of the candidate's neighbors in Cipadu, Tangerang, Banten province.

He said that the man had to pay people to attend his rallies and purchase T-shirts, flags, banners, posters and flyers with the symbol of his party.

In addition to all of these expenses, it is also common for candidates to pay people to act as their witnesses at every polling station across their respective regions. There are about 2,100 polling stations in Tangerang regency.

If a candidate had to pay Rp 25,000 for one witness, then he or she would need Rp 42.5 million just for their witnesses. This in part explained the lack of witnesses at polling stations on election day, with candidates or parties unable to hire people and thus forced to rely on members of the local election committees.

It is also common practice for a candidate to contribute huge sums of money to his or her party in order to secure a top position on the party's list of candidates, making it more likely he or she will win a legislative seat.

A DPD candidate from Jakarta, Nukman Muhasyim, said he had heard several other DPD candidates complain that they were facing "huge debts" because of the money they had spent campaigning.

"I heard one candidate fell ill because of the disappointing election results so far. From what I know, he spent a huge amount of money (on the campaign)," he said.