KPK: Weak party cadre system is one trigger for political donation practices

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) views the weakness in political party cadre systems as one of the triggers for political donation practices. “The weak integration between the recruitment process and the party cadre system is considered one of the triggers for political donation practices,” said KPK spokesperson Budi Prasetyo to journalists in Jakarta on Saturday. Budi explained that such practices then increase the potential for misuse of resources or authority when a politician is elected as a public official or regional head. Moreover, he said, if the politician incurs high campaign costs during contests in national or regional elections. “High political costs drive transactional practices in the candidate nomination process for legislative members or regional heads, including the emergence of political donations and the potential for resource misuse after the candidate is elected,” he stated. Budi made this statement following the KPK’s Directorate of Monitoring conducting a 2025 study on corruption prevention in the governance of political parties (parpol). In the study, the KPK presented several proposals related to preventing corruption in the parpol governance sector. These KPK proposals were presented alongside findings that parpol cadre systems are not running well, causing entry fees for individuals to become party cadres and be endorsed in general elections. Therefore, in its study, the KPK proposes improvements to the parpol cadre system to suppress such costs, while preventing efforts to recoup political investments by individuals who newly join the party and become cadres due to certain political costs. To support the smooth running of a good cadre system, the KPK proposes dividing party members into youth, intermediate, and senior members. In addition, there is a KPK proposal that DPR candidates must be senior party cadres. Meanwhile, candidates for provincial DPRD must be intermediate cadres. Meanwhile, presidential and vice-presidential candidates up to regional head and deputy regional head candidates are proposed to come from the party cadre system and need to have been cadres for a certain period of time. To support cadre system improvements, the KPK also proposes regulations on term limits for party general chairmen up to a maximum of two periods of management tenure.