Political Parties against the People

KOMPAS/WISNU WIDIANTORO

Pro-democracy activists and members of the Consolidation Forum for Sovereign Voters give information to reporters at the Media Center of the General Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) in Jakarta on Wednesday (25/7/2018). On that occasion, they asked the General Elections Commission (KPU) to open access to the track records of legislative candidates so that the public can also take part in supervising them.

A number of political parties have deliberately nominated former corruption convicts to take part in the 2019 legislative election even though they are aware that the nominations are against General Elections Commission (KPU) regulations.

As reported by Kompas daily on Friday, the National Awakening Party (PKB) has nominated a number of former corruption inmates as legislative candidates (caleg). Although the KPU’s Regulation No. 20/2018 requires that political parties sign an integrity pact and not nominate candidates who have been convicted of corruption, sexual assault against children or drug abuse, the PKB still nominated former convicts of such cases.

As stated by the PKB’s secretary-general, Abdul Kadir Karding, the KPU’s Regulation No. 20/2018 is against Law No. 7/2017 on general elections. Currently, the regulation is still being reviewed by the Supreme Court (MA). In addition, persons who have made a mistake in the past and have been convicted and served their jail terms should not be punished again. The individual rights should be respected.

The PKB is not alone. The Golkar Party, the Gerindra Party and the NasDem Party have also included ex-convicts of corruption on the list of legislative candidates. They were nominated because there is a request from the voters, pending the Supreme Court\'s verdict. Other parties have assured they will replace candidates who are found to have committed acts of corruption.

The KPU is examining the legal status of the nominated legislative candidates based on data from the KPK and the Supreme Court. The Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) has found 199 of the legislative candidates for provincial, regency/municipality levels are former corruption convicts. The number is quite small if compared to the total number of the legislative candidates for provincial, regency/municipality levels in the 2019 legislative elections, which reached 19,817 people, an increase from 19,007 people in the 2014 legislative elections. The official number of candidates for the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) is not yet available.

However, the party\'s policy of nominating former corruption convicts as candidates indicates the scarcity of members who can replace their positions. The parties feel compelled to nominate former corruption convicts because they are “indebted” with them. The attitudes of these parties, and the existing data of the KPK and other anticorruption agencies, further confirm that legislative bodies, at the central and regional levels, and parties are the most corrupt institutions in the country.

This nation, through MPR Decree Number XI/MPR/1998 on staying free of corruption, collusion and nepotism; Law No. 31/1999 on the eradication of corruption; or Law No. 30/2002 on the KPK; and various other rules, places corruption as an extraordinary crime. That is one of the fruits of the reforms. The public need to fight corruption in an extraordinary way too.

The party\'s attitude of nominating former corruption convicts not only goes against the integrity pact and KPU regulations, but it also against the will of the people. In fact, the people are the owners of sovereignty in this country.