New law cuts funding sources of Golkar

JAKARTA (JP): The new law on political parties has cut the traditional sources of funding for the ruling party Golkar: contributions from civil servants and state companies and government contractors.

While Golkar could, under the law, still solicit money from individuals and corporations, their contributions are not automatic as they used to be.

Feisal Tamin, secretary general of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said the government would curb Golkar's past practices of "extorting" from civil servants and private and state corporations.

"With the new regulation, civil servants are no longer automatically Golkar members. They are not obliged to pay monthly and annual dues to any political organization," Feisal said.

President B.J. Habibie issued a regulation last week -- to complement the new law on political parties -- barring civil servants from joining political parties unless they had the consent of their immediate superiors.

In the past civil servants automatically became Golkar members, and their membership dues were deducted from their salaries.

Feisal said the government would bar state companies and private companies which have received contracts from the government from making financial contributions to Golkar.

"The government will be strict on this in order to ensure companies keep an equal distance from all political parties," he said.

In the past state companies made large contributions to Golkar's election campaign and private companies which won government contracts were obliged to contribute as much as five percent of a contract's value.

"There was an unwritten agreement between the contractors and regional administrations," he said.

Besides state companies and government contractors, many conglomerates also made generous donations to Golkar's coffers in the past. But this may also be drying up now with many conglomerates no longer bound to the ruling party.

But even if Golkar was deprived of these traditional sources of funding, it could still count on the huge volume of funds it had accumulated in past years, putting it at a major advantage over all the other parties vying to contest the election in June.

The new political laws which became effective on Feb. 1 limit the amount of financial contributions an individual and a corporation can make to a political party to Rp 15 million and Rp 150 million respectively a year. The party's finances must also be audited by public accountants.

Feisal, who also chairs the Civil Servants Corps (Korpri), reiterated that with Habibie's ruling on civil servants' neutrality, Korpri has severed all links with Golkar.

"Ours is now an independent organization. It will keep an equal distance from all political parties," he said.

He confirmed that President Habibie had amended an earlier regulation on the political rights of civil servants in accordance with the wishes of the factions in the House of Representatives deliberating the political bills.

Under the new regulation, civil servants who are still members of political parties when the regulation comes into effect would automatically lose their party membership.

Those who want to retain their party membership must seek the permission of their immediate superiors within three months.

Those who intend to join political parties must take leave of absence from their government jobs but they would still be entitled to receive their basic salary for up to one year.

They could return to their government jobs within one year, but if they wanted to continue their political career they would have to resign from the civil service.

While the ruling appeared to have satisfied the political parties, there were concerns expressed in the regions that some civil servants might be lured by the prospect of paid leave and simply join political parties.

Nurdin Manggu, chief of the Southeast Sulawesi Office of the Ministry of Education and Culture, said in Kendari that there ought to be special guidelines for state teachers assigned to remote areas.

"Many teachers in remote areas across the country would be lured by the offer, and this would be detrimental to the national education program," Antara quoted Nurdin as saying on Thursday.

He said that there were around 1,000 teachers in remote areas in Southeast Sulawesi who could potentially demand that they be relieved of their posts in order to pursue a political career. (rms)