Dozens of Regional Head Candidates Have Negative Wealth

KOMPAS/JUMARTO YULIANUS

South Kalimantan gubernatorial candidate pair Sahbirin Noor and Muhidin (left) holds up a placard with their ticket number, “1”, alongside rival candidate ticket No. 2, Denny Indrayana and Difriadi, after drawing their ballot number on 24 Sept. 2020 at the South Kalimantan General Elections Commission in Banjarmasin.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The 2020 simultaneous regional elections have been marked by a wide disparity in the wealth of regional head and deputy regional head candidates. A number of the candidates have wealth worth tens to hundreds of billions of rupiah, while others have negative wealth or their total debts exceed their total assets.

According to wealth reports (LHKPN) of 1,474 regional head and deputy candidates submitted to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as of October 19, as many as 12 candidates have negative wealth of between Rp 8 million (about US$552) and Rp 3.5 billion. The 12 candidates consist of seven candidates running for regent or mayor and other five candidates running for deputy regent or deputy mayor. The number of candidates with negative wealth in the upcoming regional elections increased from that of the 2018 regional elections, which only had two candidates in the red.

The candidate with the largest negative wealth is the deputy regent candidate for Sijunjung regency, West Sumatra, Indra Gunalan, whose wealth reports show a negative asset of Rp 3.5 billion. In the elections, he is paired with Hendri Susanto, who has wealth totaling Rp 265 million.

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The Kompas team contacted four candidates in West Sumatra with negative assets, namely Indra Gunalan; the candidate for regent of Padang Pariaman, Tri Suryadi; the candidate for deputy regent of Pesisir Selatan, Hamdanus; and the candidate for regent of Limapuluh Kota, Ferizal Ridwan. Tri and Ferizal responded. "In my opinion, the wealth reports are based on facts," Tri said on Sunday (25/10/2020).

Meanwhile, Ferizal acknowledged that he had total loans of Rp 121.79 million. He obtained the loans by pawning the official document on his appointment as deputy regent of Limapulug Kota (2016-2021).

"I pawned the appointment letter for several reasons, namely to pay off debts to finance costs during the regional head election (2015), to finance the burial of Tan Malaka\'s body, as well as spending for youth and sports activities," he said.

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KOMPAS/KRISTIAN OKA PRASETYADI

North Sulawesi gubernatorial candidate Vonnie Anneke Panambunan (center, in tinted glasses) leaves the local General Elections Commission (KPU) as her running mate Hendry Runtuwene (rear left, in black mask and top) gestures amidst a throng of media and supporters on 24 Sept. 2020, after drawing their ballot number in Manado.

Ferizal admitted that he and his partner, Nurkhalis, had spent no more than Rp 150 million to participate in the regional head elections as independent candidates.

The candidate for regent of Indramayu, West Java, Muhamad Sholihin, also confirmed that he had negative wealth. However, Sholihin did not believe that that the money could guarantee a candidate’s victory in the regional head elections. "I ran for elections twice. I never used money. Without money I could win a seat in the Indramayu Legislative Council (DPRD) twice,” he said.

According to a political researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Arya Fernandes, the fact that many candidate have negative assets indicated the recklessness of those taking part in the elections.

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"It is a reckless choice for candidates with negative assets to compete in the costly regional elections,” said Arya.

A lecturer of political science at Andalas University in Padang, Asrinaldi, emphasized that the amount of assets a candidates had did not have any connection with their chance of winning the elections. According to him, if there are candidates with limited funds but a good track record, the residents will help materially or show other forms of support. However, Asrinaldi said, ideally the assets of a candidate should not be negative or to too excessive.

A KPK deputy chairman, Pahala Nainggolan, said the wealth reports were based on self-assessments. The main focus of the KPK in this area is ensuring compliance among candidates in reporting all their assets.

It is a reckless choice for candidates with negative assets to compete in the costly regional elections

Because of that, he said, the public could access elhkpn.kpk.go.id to view the wealth summary of state administrators, including regional elections participants. If they are unsure about the truth of the reported assets or if they have other information on their wealth, the people can provide information in the e-Announcement menu.

KOMPAS/MEGANDIKA WICAKSONO

Masks and physical distancing are in short supply as supporters raise their arms to cheer M. Sulhan Fauzi and Zaini Makarim Supriyatno after the candidate pair registered at the Purbalingga General Elections Commission (KPU) on Sunday (6/9/2020) in Rembang, Purbalingga Central Java. The Oji-Zaini pair are running for Purbalingga regent and deputy regent in the 2020 simultaneous regional elections.

Disparity

According to the wealth reports, the candidate with the most assets is the candidate for deputy governor of South Kalimantan, Muhidin, who has total wealth of Rp 674 billion. He is paired with the incumbent Sahbirin Noor, who has total wealth of Rp 22.9 billion. The Muhidin-Sahbirin ticket will compete with the Denny Indrayana-Difriadi pair, which have combined assets of Rp. 16.8 billion.

Candidates who are promoted through political parties also tend to have higher assets than independent candidates. Only candidates nominated by political parties have assets of more than Rp 75 billion (18 candidates).

A lecturer at the School of Politics and Government at Gadjah Mada University, Mada Sukmajati, said that the wide difference in assets between candidate pairs in the regional head elections was a bad trend because it was related to equality in the elections. Because of that, he encouraged transparency in reporting campaign funds to ensure that candidate spending did not exceed the existing threshold.

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Issued by the General Elections Commission (KPU), Regulation No. 12/2020 on campaign funds in regional head elections has set limits on campaign costs.

However, according to Mada\'s research in the 2018 Madiun regency-city election, expenditures during the elections were 10 to 15 times greater than the campaign funds reported to the KPU.

A member of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), Fritz Edward Siregar, said that the auditing of campaign funds tended to be just a formality. Usually, donations are not included in the campaign fund account so that they cannot be audited. (SYA/PDS/BOW/JOL/IKI)