Vote buying tarnishes Yogyakarta elections

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Allegations of money politics and unethical campaigning have overshadowed direct local leadership elections in three regencies of Yogyakarta province on Sunday.

However, the polls, which were simultaneously held in the regencies of Bantul, Sleman and Gunungkidul, generally passed off peacefully and smoothly.

At least 11 people were arrested for involvement in money politics in an attempt to ensure victory for their preferred candidates, said Sleman election monitoring body member Ro'mi Habie.

"The number of suspects could increase as incidences of money politics took place in all 17 districts across Sleman regency. We have reported these cases to the police," he said.

Ro'mi explained that the incidences of money politics were all similar in nature, with campaign teams handing out cash to potential voters, normally just a day or a couple of hours before the polling stations opened.

In some cases, candidates held so-called "thanksgiving ceremonies", where the guests/potential voters were given money and food, and then asked to vote for the candidate hosting the ceremony, he added.

As for unethical campaigning, Ro'mi said the election monitoring body had found many leaflets circulating that contained statements calculated to insult or defame particular candidates.

As an example, he said there were leaflets circulating that had purportedly been issued by the Yogyakarta governor and sultan, Hamengkubuwono X, which urged people not to vote for Ibnu Subiyakto, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's candidate for regent in Sleman.

In Bantul, texting services were being widely used to try to influence voters by tarnishing the images of particular candidates, and even offering money in return not to make public purported or imaginary graft cases.

These messages had also been received by polling station committee members and journalists.

The messages mostly read "How much money do you want for not exposing my graft case," or "If you need money, please contact my wife".

"This is a crime and also constitutes defamation. Therefore, we have given the names of those whom we suspect to the police. If a campaign team is found guilty, the candidate will be disqualified," Ro'mi said.

Meanwhile in Gunungkidul, many voters abstained from voting due to widespread apathy and a lack of confidence that the candidates would bring about any meaningful changes in people's lives.