Tito Proposes Campaign Spending Limits Following String of Regional Head Sting Operations

Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian has proposed limiting campaign expenditure for each candidate pair in regional head elections (pilkada).

Tito put forward the proposal in response to a string of hand-catch operations (OTT) against regional heads conducted by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) over the past two months.

“Perhaps these rules need to be regulated [campaign spending limits]. I think so,” Tito said after a meeting with Commission II of the House of Representatives (DPR) on Thursday (16 July).

Tito believes that the recent string of corruption, bribery and gratification cases ensnaring several regional heads is partly caused by their small incomes. According to him, a regional head’s salary is only around Rp6 million per month.

Even with allowances and other facilities added, Tito said the take-home pay is not comparable to the political costs they incurred to win office.

“A regional head’s salary is a little over Rp6 million. Then it is supplemented with allowances which are perhaps far below what has already been spent,” Tito said.

To address this, Tito said he had proposed allowing regional heads to receive additional income from locally generated revenue (PAD). However, that option needs to be studied carefully by both the DPR and the government.

Beyond that option, limiting campaign spending in regional elections could also be considered. However, he said, such an option would need to be regulated through a revision of the Regional Elections Law.

For example, Tito said, consideration could be given to whether every donation received by a regional head candidate should be announced publicly. In the United States, every donation must be disclosed openly. Alternatively, the amounts could be limited.

“Like in America, it is open; here perhaps we could limit how much may be donated to the regional head candidate they support,” Tito said.