Stronger Rules for Campaign Fund Reporting Needed

KOMPAS/PRADIPTA PANDU

Chairman of General Election Commission (KUPU) Arief Budiman (front right) and gives the results of the election campaign fund audit reports to the Chairman of Elections Supervisory Agency  (Bawaslu) Abhan (front left) at the KPU Office, Jakarta, Friday (31/5/2019).

Without the implementation of a stronger rule to force candidates to report campaign funds correctly, reporting will only become a formality as is currently the case. Such reports will not be effective in preventing corruption.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS— In the four simultaneous regional head elections in the country, the reporting of campaign funds is still merely a formality. Without improving the reporting mechanisms and granting investigative authority to election supervisors, the campaign fund reporting will not be effective in preventing transactional politics or political corruption.

According to Kompas\' records, the criticism of the reports of the campaign funds that did not show the actual amount of the funds being received and spent had appeared in the simultaneous regional elections in 2015, 2017 and 2018. In the middle of the campaign period for the upcoming regional head elections, a similar criticism on the accuracy of the reports of the campaign funds (LADK) and donations for campaign funds (LPSDK) emerged again.

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Based on data taken from the official website of the General Election Commission (KPU), out of 739 candidate pairs, 31 pairs did not report any rupiah in the LADK documents, while in the LPSDK donation documents, 35 pairs also reported zero rupiah. Nine of them of them are the incumbents.

In Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), the Lalu Pathul Bahri-M Nursiah pair only reported campaign funds of Rp 500,000 in the LADK document, while in the LPSDK document, they did not report any single rupiah. According to Kompas’ observation, during the campaign period, which has been running for more than a month, the campaign props (APKs) such as billboards and banners of the pair were scattered in a number of areas, although not as many as those of other candidates such as those seen in the Pringgarata district.

As for other expenditures, they used donations from individuals, but had not been included in the report.

When confirmed, the spokesperson for the Pathul-Nursiah pair, Lalu Amrillah , said on Thursday that they received donations from individuals, but they had yet to be calculated. "The installation of the existing APKs was still financed by funds provided by KPU (General Elections Commission). As for other expenditures, they used donations from individuals, but had not been included in the report, " Lalu said.

In Mataram city, NTB, the Lalu Makmur Said-Badruttamam Ahda pair also reported nothing in the LPSDK document. Makmur said that they did not report the donation funds due to an administrative problem. Makmur admitted that he had received donations in the form of goods. "We have already obtained receipts on spending, but they had not been reported yet,” he added.

KOMPAS/KRISTIAN OKA PRASETYADI

The candidate pair for governor and deputy governor of North Sulawesi Christiany Eugenia Paruntu (left) and Sehan Salim Landjar walked to the North Sulawesi Provincial KPU office in Manado, North Sulawesi, to submit registration documents, Sunday (6/9/2020).

In Indramayu, West Java, the Nina Agustina-Lucky Hakim pair reported the lowest amount of donation funds compared to those of other three candidate pairs. The Nina-Lucky pair received donations of Rp 35.2 million. The Muhamad Sholihin-Ratnawati pair reported Rp 145 million, while Toto Sucartono-Deis Handika pair Rp. 1.5 billion and Daniel Mutaqien S-Taufik Hidayat Rp. 1.8 billion.

"All the donations we received are deposited in bank accounts of the campaign team registered with the KPU. Indeed, that\'s all that we reported,”said Tommy Sugih, the head of the Nina-Lucky campaign team.

Public control

The deputy for the prevention of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Pahala Nainggolan, said, based on a KPK survey, the pairs who reported the actual amount of the receipts and expenditure of the campaign funds only accounted for less than 50 percent.

"It means that the accountability report is still an instrument of lip service because there is no law enforcement if candidates don’t report the funds or if the reports are not true," said Pahala.

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He added that transparency of the campaign funds can prevent corruption because the names of the sponsors would be known by the public. The community can control if a project is latter awarded to the sponsors. However, it is difficult to realize as long as the violations of campaign finance reporting are not dealt with.

JPPR proposed the revision of the Regional Election Law, among others, to give the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to investigate.

The national coordinator of the People’s Voter Education Network (JPPR), Alwan Ola Riantoby, said that the regulations on the reporting and monitoring of the campaign funds must be strengthened. JPPR proposed the revision of the Regional Election Law, among others, to give the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to investigate. As long as there is no investigative audit, the campaign fund reporting will serve only as a formality.

In terms of sanctions, Bawaslu member, Fritz Edward Siregar, considered that Law No. 10/2016 on regional elections was strong enough. In Article 187 Paragraph (7) it is stipulated that every person who deliberately gives untrue information in the campaign fund report face imprisonment of between two months and 12 months and a fine.

KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN (AIC) 10-02-2020

President Joko Widodo\'s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, was interviewed by journalists regarding his readiness to participate in the Solo Pilkada in Jakarta, Monday (10/2/2020).

However, the regulation cannot be fully enforced because of the limited authority in the supervision. The audit is only carried out in a special campaign fund account, while the violations usually occur in an unregistered account. "We hope that Bawaslu is given the authority to supervise personal accounts and campaign funds so that it can check expenditures on the field are in line with the reports," he said.

The transactions, he said, should be done digitally so that they can be traced. If the donation is in the form of cash, it will be difficult to trace. In addition, it is necessary to standardize the prices and materials used for campaign. With standardization, Bawaslu can conduct the audits effectively.

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Lecturer at the School of Politics and Government at Gadjah Mada University, Mada Sukmajati, reminded that big sponsors tended to give their donations ahead of the voting date especially to those who had shown the highest possibility to win.

On the other hand, the community also has yet to have a culture of transparency. Some donors also did not report their donations to the campaign team. They only acknowledged donations only when the candidates they supported win in the elections in the hope of getting a reward according to the donations they gave. (SYA/PDS/ZAK/OKA/IKI/ESA/JOL)