With no warning, Akbar Tandjung suddenly jumped out of his car and headed towards a becak pedicab parked 1 kilometer from the Sriwedari Stadium in Solo, Central Java. The Golkar Party Chairman was apparently undeterred by pools of stagnant water left after the day's rain. Walking the road where he was to campaign last Friday, he waved his arms, but not many people returned his enthusiasm. And no great crowd filled the stadium. Nonetheless, Akbar delivered his speech with great enthusiasm in a city whose residents are mostly PDI-P supporters.
Two hours later, Akbar slipped away to Malang, East Java for more stumping. In the city's Gajayana Stadium, he made a loud declaration: "Golkar will scoop up 30 percent of the votes in this election." In East Java, as secretary of the party's Election Victory Body, Rully Chairul Azwar, explained, Golkar is determined to win back votes it lost in the 1999 election. "We will show up everywhere," Rully said.
Such are the stakes of a veritable war in the short campaign period. It is all-out, with no holds barred-and with all the resulting tariffs of battle. Given just three weeks to campaign by the General Elections Commission (KPU), each party has developed an extensive battle plan to convince as many voters as possible. Parties will sponsor not only parades and speeches, but also launch advertisements on television and radio, as well as on-stage entertainment featuring artists who are paid handsomely.
University of Indonesia economist Mohamad Chatib Basri estimates that Rp10-15 trillion will be spent in the campaign. "That is a rough estimate," he said. He bases his figures on expenditures-for instance on food-that soared so high during the three months prior to the 1999 election. "To celebrate its anniversary," Chatib said, "a major party can spend Rp3 billion." He explained that if a party stages an event in each of 400 districts, the total cost could easily rise to Rp1.2 trillion. "Please work out yourself just how much it would be if four big parties staged similar events," he said.
Golkar is among the major parties expected to orchestrate an extensive and costly presence in the campaign. Armed with 811 campaign specialists and 200 artists, Rully said, Golkar has to date mobilized more than any other party. Artists such as Evie Tamala and Thomas Djorghi have also joined the Golkar team. "They have been contracted for three weeks to travel around Indonesia," Rully said.
Golkar has spent Rp5 billion to hire top "hip-swivelling" artists to add spice to political rallies. On average, Rully said, each artist is paid Rp10-20 million and the party also provides transport, food, and accommodation during the tour.
The higher the artist's prestige, the higher the fee-and the more certain a party can be in gaining votes. Or at least that's the plan. Rully confessed that Golkar was disappointed in its efforts to nab the queen of gyrations, Inul Daratista. "Her fee was very high," he said. The infamous Inul admitted that two big parties had solicited her infamous stage presence for the campaign season. The first party offered a contract for three weeks valued at-unbelievable!-Rp16 billion. And later another party offered Rp30 billion for the same three weeks. "I couldn't sleep, thinking about so much money," Inul said. But she ultimately declined both offers. "The thing is, my fans come from various elements of society," she said, defending her decision.
Golkar has spent a great deal this year, that's certain, but Rully would not confirm exact figures. "The amount just keeps on growing," he said. "But it's not as much as when Golkar was still in power." In years past, the New Order regime's political machine fed off charitable foundations managed by the Cendana (Suharto) family. The Dakab Foundation was renowned as the richest source of income, but after Suharto stepped down, it was dissolved immediately.
Golkar is currently fueled by donations from legislative candidates in top positions on the party's nominee lists. The party expects each of the top candidates to produce approximately Rp100 million. Golkar's alleged target is 30 percent of the vote-or 170 seats in the House of Representatives-and it could thus expect to gain Rp17 billion in donations. That figure, however, does not include funds the party extracts from the provinces, in the form of company and individual contributions.
In East Java, for example, Golkar gathered funds from 38 areas in the province that amounted to approximately Rp20 billion. "The funding is that high because our vote target is also a high one," Edy Wahyudi, Golkar East Java Organizational Secretary for Cadres and Party Membership, said. In an area of Nahdlatul Ulama (mass Muslim organization) support, Golkar has targeted 24 seats.
It is an altogether different story for the Indonesian Democratic Party of struggle (PDI-P). Its treasurer, Noviantika Nasution, said that, even prior to taking to the field of battle in its campaign, the party has already readied Rp100 billion. Noviantika said that funds flowed into the party's bag from various sources. In addition to direct contributions from businessmen, the party allocated funds from the Annual State Budget and gained Rp36 billion in government party funding.
Many suspect, however, that PDI-P's campaign war chest is at least twice what Noviantika quoted, with half of the total dedicated to advertising. Noviantika denied such suspicions. "Even if there really was that much money," he said, "the expenditure on media advertising could not be more than Rp35 billion. The KPU would blow the whistle on us, otherwise." PDI-P has spent lavishly on print and electronic advertising. Every day, Indonesians see the face of party chief Megawati Sukarnoputri on prime-time television. Sparing no expense, Mega appears on 40 local and national TV stations, in addition to being broadcast on 500 radio stations. All this and you must still consider the party's extensive presence in national and local print media. Advertising agencies claim the party has spent only what the regulations allow. "The total cost is under Rp40 billion," Triawan Munaf, head of Adwork Euro, the advertising company handling PDI-P since 1999, said. (See A Test of Strength on the Tube.) According to Triawin's testimony, PDI-P, by spending under Rp40 billion, has indeed stayed within the legal boundaries for promotion. KPU permits a political party to have 10 advertising slots per day. The market price of one slot-equivalent to half a minute of airtime-is Rp5 million to Rp20 million. For prime time-6pm-7pm and 9pm-10pm-"The price is Rp20 million per slot," Budi Darmawan, SCTV Public Relations Manager, said.
But while PDI-P and Golkar are each spending a wagonload of money for their campaigns, Deputy Secretary of the General Election Victory Action Committee of the Crescent Star Party (PBB), Nizar Dahlan, admits to just the opposite. "Our headquarters officials don't have a special budget," Nizar said. For the party led by Yusril Ihza Mahendra, campaign costs are being met entirely by legislative candidates. This includes everything from the production of T-shirts and flags to paying transport costs for campaign specialists. Nizar, who is the number-one ranked legislative candidate for the Crescent Star Party in the West Sumatra electorate, admits to having spent Rp50 million from his own pocket.
Similar budgetary concerns plague the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). PKS Deputy Treasurer Edy Kuncoro said its central leadership takes care of only television, radio and newspaper advertising. Carnivals and local campaigning are managed by the party's branches. For television advertising, PKS has budgeted just Rp4-5 billion.
Although parties do admit to spending great sums of money on advertising, none are willing to report their current campaign totals to the KPU. As of last Friday, KPU Deputy Chairman Ramlan Surbakti said the commission had yet to receive a single report on party campaign funding. Parties had registered campaign account numbers but had submitted no detailed breakdown, for example, on who had donated, and how much. "Actually," Ramlan said, "every contribution is supposed to be accompanied by the clear identity of the contributor." The maximum contribution set by the KPU is Rp100 million for an individual contribution and Rp750 million for an organization.
Only three parties have reported balances of any kind for campaign fund accounts. The Crescent Star Party submitted Rp872 million as its final remaining balance, the National Mandate Party (PAN) registered approximately Rp8 million, and the Prosperous Justice Party tallied Rp125 million. Golkar and PDI-P official account balances remain a complete mystery.
Despite its outrage at such bold indifference to its authority, the KPU confesses there is not much it can do. According to Ramlan, his institution can only issue circular letters to its regional subordinates to ask local KPUs to supervise campaign funds. Ideally, all reports on campaign funding, both on expenditure as well as income, are to be reported to a public accountant within 60 days after polling day. "That public accountant is required to carry out an audit within 30 days, at the latest, after receiving a party's report," Ramlan said.
No penalties exist to punish a political party that fails to report its campaign funding. The General Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu), assigned to police delinquent political parties, also has no authority to examine a party's books. Didik Supriyanto, Panwaslu Supervision Coordinator, said the only way to scrutinize a party's finances is to dispatch a special "intelligence unit." The problems are tricky. A party may claim only Rp10 billion in funds, but, in reality, it may spend more than Rp50 billion. "They campaign by helicopter," Didik explained, "but this is not booked as expenditure." As KPU sits on its hands, worrying over its impotence, anti-corruption institution Transparency International Indonesia has instituted a program of mercenary "spying" and has sent 600 volunteers to 20 cities throughout Indonesia. "We began to supervise the parties as soon as they passed the pre-qualification to take part in the election," Transparency Advocacy Coordinator Anung Karyadi said. The program will continue through to the end of the presidential election campaign.
Even with such developments, it remains unclear if efforts to monitor the origin and path of party funds will succeed in any fashion. The 2004 General Elections, it must be said, is a prime target for the sort of open money laundering and flow of illicit funds poisoning other corrupt, and therefore criminal, enterprises. Scrutinizing a political party's purse is no easy task, but at least part of the onus rests on the shoulders of the parties' themselves. After all, can Indonesians expect to vote for individuals who fail to observe laws-even before they've even set foot in office?
[Nezar Patria, Widiarsi Agustina, Sudrajat, Ucok Ritonga, Tempo newsroom.]