President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s concern about practices of money politics in the district head elections and high-cost democracy had been expressed again in the state address in the Joint Session of the House of Representatives  and the Regional Representatives Council on Aug. 16, 2010.

The phenomenon of high-cost district head elections was previously mentioned by Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi. It is a paradox of the expensive cost of district head elections and the demand of a government that is clean from corruption.

To become a governor, one needs funding of around Rp 100 billion (US$11.14 million), while the governor’s salary is only Rp 8.7 million per month.

This phenomenon has a correlation with a recent report of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) that states that the regional budget has become the biggest contributor to the potential losses to the state due to corruption cases that have occurred in the first half of 2010. According to ICW data, corruption cases of the regional budget in 2010 have cost the state about Rp 596.23 billion, out of a total of Rp 1.2 trillion in state losses due to corruption.

The spread of corruption to the area and the many regional heads that have been arrested for corruption clearly indicate that there is something wrong with the system and the district head election process, because district head elections are then also often accompanied by the practices of money politics.

It is money politics that has caused the cost of district head elections and the cost of democracy to increase.

At least, there are four factors causing money politics and the high cost of the district head election: the impact of the liberalization of the district head election system; the effect from the failure of the parties to bind constituency and the failure of a candidate of a district head to lure voters; the impact of the strengthening of pragmatism of party members and voters; and the implication of a strong oligarchy and the fragility of the internal recruitment system of a candidate for a district head.

The system of the district head elections has increased administration costs, the cost of political campaigns, and the nomination fees. The General Election Commission calculated that the cost of implementation of the district head elections during 2010-2014 reached Rp 15 trillion. Furthermore, there are also fees for political consultants.

The failure of the party to bind the constituency and the inability of a candidate of a district head to lure voters also have caused the high political cost in the district head elections.

The inability to lure and bind these constituencies has provoked the party elite and the candidate for a district head to use an instant way through money politics. Such a practice has clearly caused the cost of the district head election to inflate.

The strengthening of political pragmatism and the decline of the militancy members of the party — which have caused the the party organization machinery to not run optimally — have also encouraged the proliferation of money politics. It is coupled with the pragmatism voter factor.

This situation has led to the use of the power of money as an instant strategy to move forward the party machinery or as a replacement of the performance organization machinery in the district head election campaign. This of course has also led to the more expensive cost of the district head elections.

The opportunities of money politics and the more expensive cost of district head elections have also been encouraged by the proliferation of oligarchy, the centralization of party policy, and the fragility of the system of members and the party’s internal recruitment.

The recruitment system of the district head election, that is not done in a democratic and transparent way, will invite money politics in the nomination process. The party leaders tend to set high tariffs in the nomination of a district head.

They see this district head election as a source of income for the elite and the party organization. The cost spent in the nomination process is usually higher than the component of the campaign fund of the district head election.

All four of these factors have caused the proliferation of money politics practices and the more expensive cost of district head elections.

This condition will further erode the quality and moral integrity of the elected district heads. Because the selection system of district head elections that relies on the strength of money will incite the corrupt behavior of the head districts.

A candidate for district head that does not have much money and has spent much in the elections surely thinks that the political costs must be recovered. At this point, the regional budget corruption will be a shortcut to recover the capital that has been used.

Therefore, there are three aspects of the administration of the district head election that needs to be reorganized. First, the aspect of system implementation. It is necessary to pool the executive and legislative elections at the local level. There should be integration of the implementation of district head elections throughout Indonesia. If the executive and legislative elections are united, it means that there are only two elections, the national and local elections.

The unification and integration of district head elections and Regional Legislative Council elections will obviously save money in the management, supervision or security of the elections. The separation of the national and local elections will also encourage local issues to appear on the surface, and that will be in accordance with the spirit of regional autonomy.

Second, from the aspect of campaign funds, there should be necessary rules limiting the total spending and spending in the campaigns of district head elections. The expenditures of the candidates for district head elections should be limited to the implementation of the district head elections.

This is to minimize the occurrence of corrupt practices in the regional budget, as the candidates for district heads tend to recover the capital when they are elected. The rules about the limitations of these expenditures should be regulated in the legislation.

Third, from the political party point of view, the candidates of district heads should have internal awareness — which will be enforced through regulatory legislation — for the parties to implement the recruitment system of candidates for district heads democratically and transparently. This is to avoid money politics in the process of nomination by the party.

Hanta Yuda A.R., The writer is a political analyst at The Indonesian Institute.
Copied from The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 08/27/2010 9:24 AM