Parties not transparent about legislative poll funding: NGO

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta

Many political parties have not submitted the appropriate reports on campaign expenditures for the April 5 legislative election to the General Elections Commission (KPU), a civil governance non- governmental organization disclosed on Friday.

Transparency International Indonesia (TII) secretary-general Emmy Hafild has therefore urged people not to vote for those parties' candidates in the July 5 presidential election.

"Their lack of credibility means they will merely consider the interests of those certain people who assisted them," she said.

The TII report says most parties -- including the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) -- did not provide a transparent report on their campaign funds, and that their actual expenditures far exceeded their reported spending.

"For instance, the PDI-P reported on its balance sheet that it had about Rp 103 billion (US$117 million) in its treasury, while it spent no less than Rp 241 billion during the campaign. The Democratic Party claimed Rp 5 billion on its balance sheet, despite expenses of about Rp 30 billion for its campaign.

"Meanwhile, PAN and the PKS reported Rp 15 billion and Rp 125 billion respectively, but we estimate the parties spent tens of billions of rupiah during their campaigns," Emmy said.

She added that several other parties, including the New Indonesia Alliance Party (PPIB), the Freedom Bull National Party (PNBK), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Pioneer Party and the Golkar Party, had failed either to submit reports on their opening and closing balances or to disclose their financial sources for the campaigns.

The TII released the report after a four-month study from December 2003 to April 2004 in 20 areas across the nation.

"We also found that many legislative candidates dug deep into their own pockets to pay their expenses, even though the law stipulates that an individual's personal campaign funds should not exceed Rp 100 million," Emmy said.

She urged the KPU to request clarification from the parties, arguing that rampant money politics and the absence of transparency among parties had marred the legitimacy of the election.

The report also disclosed that several parties had intentionally omitted the identities of their campaign donors in disregard of the law, which stipulates that each party must disclose the identities of individuals who contribute funds exceeding Rp 5 million.

The parties are: the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), PAN, the PDI-P, Golkar and the Indonesian Unity Party (PSI).