Law on money politics sought to ensure democracy
Law on money politics sought to ensure democracy
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza
Mahendra has underlined the importance of formulating a special
law on money politics to help curb the rising trend of the crime.
Speaking at a one-day seminar here on Monday, Yusril said that
none of the existing laws was sufficient to address money
politics practices, which could be viewed as bribery.
The minister said that due to the absence of the law, money
politics, which frequently involved backhanders for the election
of certain officials to hold certain positions, had become
increasingly difficult to solve.
He said that it was necessary to make a clear-cut definition
because money politics could not be touched by the law at all if
the money used did not come from state funds.
"If the money comes from one's own pocket, it's dealing with a
moral issue rather than a legal one. On the other hand it's a
violation of the law, if it involves state funds," he said in his
address, read by the ministry's secretary-general Hasanuddin.
"This practice is difficult to prove before the law. The
easiest way to curb it is to enhance moral awareness about it.
But I think there should be a regulation or law that specifically
covers money politics cases," he added.
In practice there are actually several laws whose articles
cover money politics, such as Anti-corruption Law No. 3/1999, the
Criminal Code, Anti-bribery Law No. 11/1980 and Election Law No.
2/1999.
National Ombudsman Commission chairman Antonius Sujata,
however, also considered that the articles in the laws were not
powerful enough to settle the crime, since they only focused on
those giving money and not on those receiving it.
"Based on complaints and reports submitted to the commission,
the receivers of the money are mostly those who play an active
role and usually come from the big political parties," he told
the seminar.
The idea of establishing a specific law on money politics has
been raised apparently to prevent similar deals in the upcoming
2004 general elections, where political parties were believed to
have started collecting funds for campaign and other activities.
There have been reports over the last three years about money
politics in the election of certain regents, mayors or governors
who involved the participation of members of big political
parties in regional legislative councils.
Albert Hasibuan, a member of the National Commission on Human
Rights (Komnas HAM), also said at the seminar that rampant money
politics hampered democracy and the people's political right to a
fair election.
"There should be a correction of this situation," he said,
adding that only good governance that optimized the check and
balance system could curb such a practice.
Law sociologist of Surabaya-based Airlangga University,
Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto, suggested that the government should
pay attention to small political parties by giving them more
funds to help ensure fair competition among them.
He pointed out that without such an incentive there would be
no way for the small parties to compete with the large ones,
which could "buy" votes in order to have many seats in the
legislature. (bby)