Presidential candidates must declare assets: NGOs
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.