Parties demand state funding for presidential drive
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite the government call for political parties to be financially independent, some factions at the House of Representatives (DPR) are demanding that the state provide presidential candidates with campaign funds.
They said the funds would help ease the high cost of financing a campaign for the candidates and their running mates.
Agun Gunandjar Gunarsa said the proposal came from the Golkar faction and it had won other factions' support.
He said the amount of funding allocated to presidential candidates would be adjusted according to the state's finances.
The election law passed last year ensures that political parties are able to use taxpayers' money to fund their operational costs and election campaigns.
The presidential election bill being deliberated at the House does not stipulate anything about state funds allocated to parties to finance their presidential election campaign.
According to the Constitution, presidential candidates have to represent a political party or a group of political parties.
Deputy chairman of the House special committee deliberating the presidential election bill, Chozin Chumaidy of the United Development Party (PPP), confirmed a proposal to insert an article on government assistance for parties contesting the presidency.
He said the state funds were demanded on the grounds that the presidential election is part of the national agenda.
"This will strengthen the candidate's commitment to serve the people if he or she is elected president," Chozin added.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) legislator Agustin Teras Narang refused to comment on the proposal.
"We have to listen to every opinion," he told a media conference here on Thursday.
Teras, who chairs the House committee deliberating the presidential bill, said legislators were discussing the bill and the government had not given its approval.
During the media briefing, Teras said there were some unresolved issues left in the bill's deliberation. Those issues, he said, would be settled in discussions among faction leaders and the minister of home affairs.
The contentious issues being discussed include the schedule for the presidential election, the requirements of presidential candidates, the electoral threshold for political parties to nominate candidates and the election campaign.
The House remains divided on whether to organize a simultaneous legislative and presidential election or to hold separate ones.
The bill, outlined by the Ministry of Home Affairs, suggested that the presidential election be held after the election of legislative members.
Minor factions the United Development Party (PPP), the Reform Party, the Crescent Star Party (PBB) and the Indonesian Nationhood Unity (PDU) have opposed the proposal to organize separate elections, citing it would be inefficient.