Only four parties submit list of major donors
Only four parties submit list of major donors
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta
Only four out of the 24 political parties that contested the
legislative elections have submitted to the General Elections
Commission (KPU) the names of those who made donations amounting
to Rp 5 million (US$581) or more.
According to KPU data, as of Wednesday the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) had submitted the names of
2,692 donors, the Golkar Party 658, the Prosperous Peace Party
(PDS) 37 and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKP
Indonesia) seven.
The election law requires political parties to inform the KPU
of the names of all donors who make cash donations to them
amounting to Rp 5 million or more.
Donations from an individual person must not exceed Rp 100
million, while the maximum donation allowed on the part of a
company is set at Rp 750 million. Violations of the caps on
donations carry a four-month jail term and/or a maximum fine of
Rp 1 billion.
From the donors, the PDI-P collected Rp 103.56 billion, Golkar
Rp 82.6 billion, PDS Rp 1.6 billion, and the PKPI Rp 525 million.
Golkar, however, did not state how much it had received from
individuals.
The election law does not provide sanctions for parties that
fail to comply with the principle of transparency in their fund-
raising programs.
Most political parties, except for the Freedom Bull National
Party (PNBK) and the Pioneer Party, submitted their initial
accounts to the KPU before the election campaign started on April
11.
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said the KPU had been
focusing on completing the manual ballot count, and had not been
able to investigate the question of election campaign funds
thoroughly.
The commission is to publicly announce the names of donors.
Political parties have to have their accounts audited by
independent accountants by not later than 60 days after the
election to check their cash flows during the course of the
election campaign.
The accountants must complete their audits within 30 days and
report their findings to the KPU within at least seven days
thereafter.
To give effect to the ruling, the KPU has issued Instruction
No. 30/2004 on guidelines for the audit of political parties and
other electoral participants' campaign funds and financial
reports.
According to this instruction, which was issued on April 21,
political parties and legislative aspirants have to report their
campaign funds to the KPU.
Regarding the campaign funds of presidential and vice
presidential hopefuls, the candidates must report their campaign
funds to the KPU at least three days after presidential election
day, scheduled for July 5.
Independent accountants will then audit the campaign fund
reports, with such audits being required to be completed within
15 days.