Politicians back transparency of campaign funds
Politicians back transparency of campaign funds
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Politicians backed on Friday calls for presidential hopefuls to
provide detailed information on the sources of their campaign
funds to promote transparency.
They, however, shied away from setting the limit of campaign
funds, a move that could prevent money politics in the upcoming
elections.
"It is high time for presidential candidates to disclose in
details their campaign funds. We have to discuss it seriously, as
it is not mentioned in the draft presidential election bill,"
legislator Pramono Anung Wibowo said during a discussion here on
Friday.
The House of Representatives (DPR) is currently deliberating
the presidential election bill submitted by the government early
this year.
Pramono, deputy secretary general of President Megawati
Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan), said his faction would support the issue.
He said the presidential election bill currently being
deliberated by House members had to specifically require each
presidential candidate to produce a financial report on their
campaign funds with detailed information on the names of donors,
amount of money donated and expenditures.
Golkar legislator Slamet Effendi Yusuf and National Awakening
Party (PKB) executive Imam Anshari Saleh concurred with Pramono,
emphasizing that the regulations concerning campaign funds must
promote accountability and transparency.
Smita Notosusanto, executive director of the Center for
Electoral Reform (Cetro), said during Friday's discussion that a
presidential campaign was definitely a media campaign.
Therefore, she added, anyone with a vast amount of money would
have a greater chance of dominating the campaign, because they
could afford advertisement space and airtime.
Smita suggested that the bill clearly define campaign fund,
donation and personal wealth of presidential candidates.
All contributions to campaign funds, including material
contributions, services, exclusive prices for accommodation or
travel during the campaign must be listed as campaign funds, she
added.
"If all those contributions are excluded, it would violate the
limitation provided by the bill," Smita said.
Although politicians were unable to estimate the ceiling limit
of campaign funds, economist Sri-Edi Swasono predicted that each
presidential candidate would need around Rp 20 trillion to
optimize their campaign.
The estimate was calculated from the estimated amount of
between Rp 5 million to Rp 15 million needed to hold a single
mass gathering at the village level.
With the thousands of villages a candidate needed to visit,
the cost of transportation, logistics and campaign flyers could
easily cost up to Rp 20 trillion.
The monthly salary of the Indonesian president is about Rp 50
million. Taking this as a baseline figure, it would still require
a great many contributions from supporters to raise the Rp 20
trillion as calculated in the estimate.
Swasono was not bothered by the large figure, but was
concerned and anxious about the possibility that the money would
be used to buy votes.