PDI-P whines about lack of campaign funds

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta

Less money from the disappointed business community and a lack of donations by aspiring legislators were to blame for the shortage of campaign finances for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), party officials admitted.

Noviantika Nasution said on Wednesday that the party must now be very careful in spending its limited budget.

"People think we are loaded ... Our funding is not as much as we expected," she remarked.

She claimed that it was logical that the business community had spread their funds among all candidates as each had a "more or less equal chance" in the presidential election.

"Business people always side with those with better chances of winning, but the past results in the (April) legislative election shows that no party won a clear majority. That's why funds from the business community are spread equally among the candidates," Noviantika suggested.

They expected to raise Rp 100 billion in donations to finance the one-month campaign period to July 1, but Noviantika said the party only had about half that amount.

PDI-P secretary-general Soetjipto also said that the party had to rely on its own sources from executive board members and regional branches for campaign financing.

"But that, of course, cannot cover all the costs. That's why the ongoing campaign period is not as extravagant as the legislative campaign," he explained.

All the legislative candidates had to put cash in to support their campaign, which in PDI-P's case meant funds from 16,000 candidates.

Now for the presidential election, PDI-P candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri must find other sources to finance their campaign.

The Golkar Party's candidate, Gen. (ret) Wiranto, held a dinner for entrepreneurs in the capital to raise campaign funds.

Another candidate, Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also held a similar event to gather funds on the resort island of Bali.

Amien Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN) has opened a public account for people who want to contribute.

A source at PDI-P complained about the lack of funds and explained that many in the business community no longer supported the party because of the poor results in the legislative election.

Megawati's party did get the second largest number of votes, slightly behind Golkar, but only 19 percent of the total, a huge drop from 1999 when they got 34 percent, the most of any party.

"We will only be able to get monetary support if we manage to make it to the second round of the presidential election (in September)," the source said.

The top two of the five candidates will battle it out in September if none wins over 50 percent on July 5. Megawati is sitting in third place according to one poll and in a virtual tie for second according to another, trailing Susilo by over 30 points in both.