Presidential candidates must declare assets: NGOs

Kurniawan Hari The Jakarta Post Jakarta

Coordinator of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) Teten Masduki and senior member of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) Hadar N. Gumay criticized the bill on presidential and vice presidential elections for its failure to compel candidates to declare their assets before running for the presidency.

Teten said a president who led the nation had to have a high standard of integrity that could be measured from his or her wealth before, during and after taking office.

"Requirements for candidates to declare assets must be inserted into the bill," Teten said here on Tuesday.

Hadar added the requirement for presidential candidates to declare assets would enable the entire nation to know if the elected president had stolen state funds for self-enrichment.

Both Teten and Hadar were commenting on the presidential election bill prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which will soon be presented to the House of Representatives (DPR) for deliberation.

The bill stipulates that presidential and vice presidential candidates must not be former members of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) or its subsidiary organizations.

It also says that candidates must have no criminal convictions involving a sentence of at least five years in jail.

The bill also requires that candidates should not have been declared a suspect in a criminal action which carried a five-year jail term if found guilty.

Like requirements for other positions, candidates must have faith in God, be of good health, have loyalty to the state ideology, Pancasila, and be able to speak, read, and write the Indonesian language.

However, there is no requirement for candidates to declare their assets.

"The lack of obligation to declare assets indicates the weakness of the bill," Teten said.

He added the lack of compulsion to declare assets showed that the established powers intended to maintain their grip on power by whatever means. It also showed there was no political will on behalf of national leaders to eradicate corruption.

Hadar, meantime, said his call for the inclusion of an assets declaration by presidential and vice presidential candidates was designed to prevent abuse of power once candidates had won the elections.

"We don't want state leaders to misuse power to enrich themselves. We should create a good control mechanism, starting with asset declaration," Hadar added.

Both Teten and Hadar pledged they would campaign for the inclusion of requirements for presidential and vice presidential candidates to declare their assets.

In addition, Hadar suggested that all presidential candidates should be required to lodge a deposit with the General Elections Commission before running for the presidency to show their seriousness.

"The deposit would be used to determine which candidates were serious and which weren't," he said.

The deposits held by the commission would be returned to the candidates after the election.

Hadar said that there ought to be further discussion on the amount of money specified for that purpose.