An election officer removes campaign billboards for the 2019 general election on Wednesday (1/23/2019) in Yogyakarta’s Kraton district. A team comprising officers from the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the local law and order agency removed the billboards because they violated the rule on installing campaign materials.
Campaign expenses for legislative candidates have soared. To confidently run for House of Representatives seats, some are preparing up to Rp 5 billion (US$355,803).
As reported in this daily on Tuesday (29/1/2019), several lawmakers were complaining about the increasing cost to run reelection campaigns in 2019, which some said could be 10 times it was in 2014. This is despite the relatively unchanging prices of campaign props when compared to five years ago.
The statements from incumbent lawmakers seemed to reaffirm the belief that politics is costly. In Indonesia, you need to spend a lot of money to be elected a public official.
Other than to seek legislative seats, those running for regional leadership seats are often forced to spend a lot of money. Consequently, many regional heads have been arrested for accepting bribes from their subordinates in return for certain positions. Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) data shows 121 regional heads were arrested for corruption between 2004 and 2018.
Even more lawmakers were involved in corruption cases between 2004 and 2018, namely 247. Lawmakers take up the largest portion of people arrested by the KPK. At the same time, the KPK is also handling corruption cases involving 998 people. Some of the lawmakers who have been arrested for corruption said that they were forced to “return the money” that they had spent in their election campaign or to “gather enough funding” to set up campaigns in future elections.
This is why the statements from legislative candidates that campaign costs in the 2019 election are huge is worrying. If they are not capable of paying for their own campaign, others may help them pay for it and in turn will seek for a “return of investment” plus some profits. As we all know, there is no free lunch in politics. Everything is clearly calculated. If these candidates do use their own money, will they not wish for a “return on investment”, plus some profits, as well?
On Oct. 11, 2018, Kompas daily reported that lawmakers could save up to around Rp 2 billion a year if they wanted. In their five years as lawmakers, they can save more than enough money to prepare for future campaigns. Thus, there is actually no need for them to wish for huge profits that will only lead to corruption and imprisonment.
Article 329 of Law No. 7/2017 on elections stipulates that the campaigns of House and Regional Legislative Councils (DPRD) members are funded by political parties. The General Elections Commission (KPU) is responsible for providing campaign props. Campaign funds can come from the pockets of lawmakers, who get the money from the people. So, no matter the amount, money from the people must be returned to the people.
