Money politics could play role in 2004 elections, says CETRO
Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Center for Electoral Reform (CETRO) warned on Wednesday that money politics could play a major role in the 2004 elections, with most political parties more concerned with the disbursement of funds than financial accountability.
"Political parties will attempt to neglect their responsibility to make their funds available for audit because they will employ every method to obtain the funds," CETRO chairwoman Smita Notosusanto said.
She cited a clause in the presidential election bill that limits individual contributions to a presidential candidate at Rp 50 million (US$5,600) and corporate donations at Rp 500 million.
The bill, however, does not oblige political parties to record donations, be they individual or corporate, of less than Rp 5 million.
"That is misleading. What happens if a businessman with vested interests donates less than Rp 5 million to a presidential candidate a thousand times using different names?" Smita asked.
Indonesia will hold a general election and its first-ever direct presidential election in 2004, and at least 230 political parties have registered with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to contest the elections.
CETRO is calling for action to ensure transparency in the use of funds by political parties during the elections.
"We must establish certain measures for auditing and sanctioning parties violating the regulations," Smita said.
All of the political parties that contested the 1999 general election failed to make public their financial reports, though none of the parties were disqualified from the polls as should have happened according to the 1999 general election law.
Golkar emerged as the biggest spender in the 1999 general election with a total expenditure of Rp 71 billion, followed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) with Rp 69.1 billion.
The chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU), Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin, told The Jakarta Post earlier that his office would cooperate with the Indonesian Accountants Association (IAI) to audit parties' financial reports after next year's elections.
Smita, however, said there were only 400 public auditor offices across the nation to audit more than 18,000 possible legislative candidates.
She proposed that each political party set up a separate account for their general election campaign funds.
"Then the IAI would be able to audit each party's campaign expenditures," she said.
"And candidates or parties wishing to contribute to their own campaigns must be registered and audited just like contributions from other sources," she said.
The 2004 general election will take place on April 5 and will be followed by the two-phased presidential election between June and August.
Political parties will receive funds from the Ministry of Finance once they are verified in October by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and the KPU.