NGO says Rp 288b in campaign funds not reported to KPU

NGO says Rp 288b in campaign funds not reported to KPU

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Transparency International Indonesia (TII), a group devoted to
fighting corruption, has estimated that the presidential
candidates for the July 5 election failed to report a total of Rp
288 billion (US$31.3 million) in campaign funds to the General
Elections Commission (KPU).

Monitoring conducted by 650 TII volunteers in 19 regions
showed that the candidates spent Rp 579 billion on campaigning,
almost double their reported expenditure, which amounted to Rp
291 billion.

"There is a big discrepancy between the actual and reported
spending," TII secretary general Emmy Hafild told the press here
on Thursday.

The non-governmental organization said the campaign funds of
each presidential candidate was far higher than what was reported
to the KPU.

She suspected the gap occurred because numerous campaign
activities in the regions were not recorded in the presidential
candidates' accounts.

According to the TII findings, the pair of Megawati
Soekarnoputri and Hasyim Muzadi topped the list with Rp 118
billion in campaign funds which were unaccounted for. They
reported only Rp 84 billion in campaign spending.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his running mate Jusuf Kalla
placed second for reporting only Rp 71 billion out of their total
expenditure, which amounted to Rp 143 billion according to the
TII.

The Wiranto-Solahuddin Wahid pairing spent Rp 138 billion but
reported only Rp 86 billion, while Amien Rais and Siswono Yudo
Husodo disbursed Rp 75 billion but claimed they spent Rp 30
billion. The team of Hamzah Haz and Agum Gumelar spent Rp 21
billion, or Rp 5 billion above what they reported.

Ahsan Jamet Hamidi, a staff member at TII, said the NGO
volunteers calculated the spending based on media advertisements
and the campaign activities in the regions involving the
candidates.

"We also cooperated with AC Nielsen to estimate the campaign
expenditures on ads in 168 print media, 14 television stations,
and 17 radio stations," he told The Jakarta Post.

Commenting on the TII report, Alwi Hamu, a member of the
Susilo-Kalla campaign team, said the confusion occurred because
his team enjoyed discounts when placing advertisements.

"It's a big mistake (of TII to assume the cost of our campaign
ads). We paid usually between 10 percent and 15 percent of the
normal price for a lot of those ads," Alwi told the Post.

Responding to TII suspicion that the expenses during campaigns
in regions were not incorporated in the campaign budget, Alwi
said many of the campaign events in regional areas were funded by
local supporters.

He said supporters of the Susilo-Kalla pair spent their own
money on such things as T-shirts and pamphlets.

"It is impossible for us to calculate how much they spent," he
said.

The Megawati-Hasyim campaign team could not be reached for
comment.

Susilo and Megawati will a running in the final vote for
president -- on Sept. 20.

Emmy and Jamet said they were skeptical of the two
presidential candidates' commitment to corruption eradication
given the fact that they were not entirely transparent about
their campaign funding.

"Transparency is the key to corruption eradication. With their
report lacking transparency, we doubt their commitment," Emmy
said.