'Political parties still need public funds'

'Political parties still need public funds'

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite being accused of ignoring the interests of the public at
large, the country's political parties, especially the big ones,
are not averse to demanding financial assistance from the
country's taxpayers.

Leaders of the big parties in the House of Representatives
(DPR), which is currently deliberating the political party bills,
which deal with, among other things, financial assistance from
the government, argued that the money donated by party members
was inadequate to fund their activities.

"We need that (money). If possible, we would like to see the
amount increased," said Golkar deputy treasurer Iris Indira Murti
at her office here on Friday.

Legislator Zein Badjeber of the United Development Party (PPP)
echoed Iris' comments, emphasizing that money from the
government, and thus from the people, was crucial for the day-to-
day activities of every party.

Their views were in stark contrast to an earlier call by an
alliance of 15 smaller parties for the subventions to be ended.

During a hearing with the special committee deliberating the
political bills recently, leaders of the small parties suggested
that the funds earmarked for the parties should go to financing
poverty alleviation programs instead.

The parties calling for the scrapping of the government
subventions included the Justice Party (PK), the Justice and
Unity Party (PKP), the People's Sovereignty Party (PDR), and the
Nahdlatul Ulama Party (PNU). They all failed to reach the
electoral threshold of two percent to qualify for participation
in the 2004 general election.

Each of the 48 political parties that participated in the 1999
general election received a Rp 150 million handout from the
government to finance their campaigns.

Based on Government Regulation No.50/2001 on the government's
electoral subvention, the parties are to receive Rp 1,000 for
each vote they garnered in the 1999 election. That makes
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), which won the 1999 election with
almost 34 million votes, the biggest recipient of government
funds at Rp 34 billion.

The government's largesse has, however, come under the
spotlight as legislators have consistently failed to meet their
legislative targets due to seemingly endless politicking. Dozens
of bills intended to reform the country's political, legal and
economic life are yet to be deliberated by the House.

Achmad Farhan Hamid of the National Mandate Party (PAN), which
came fifth in the 1999 election, backed calls for the scrapping
of the government handouts.

Farhan, who chairs the Reform Faction, said on Friday that
political parties should be free from outside interference,
implying that any subsidy from the government constituted
intervention.

Financial aid from the government could be used to put
pressure on political parties to bow down to the will of the
ruling party.

"Besides, financial aid from the government could lead to
violations of the electoral and political party laws," Farhan
told The Jakarta Post.

According to Farhan, most parties had violated the provisions
of Law No.2/1999 on political parties, especially the stipulation
requiring parties to submit a list of their donors and amount of
donations received to the Supreme Court 15 days before and 30
days after an election.

The Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) disclosed earlier that
almost all parties had submitted written reports on the use of
government funds during the 1999 general election, but only a few
had submitted the mandatory annual reports.

Iris rejected this, saying: "That's not true, we always submit
our financial reports (to the Supreme Court), although they're
often filed late."