Moch. N. Kurniawan and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Amid the growing trend among most of the 24 political parties to distribute money or staple food to entice voters, the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) warned them on Tuesday not to offer money during the campaign period.
"Do not fool the people with such charity. It's a crime, and more importantly, it will tarnish the validity of the overall election process," said Komaruddin Hidayat, the Panwaslu chairman.
Komaruddin was speaking to reporters during a press conference attended by Panwaslu members Topo Santoso, Didiek Supriyanto and Rozy Munir. Topo, who heads Panwaslu legal division, asserted that such cash handouts were considered a crime and, therefore, Panwaslu would report it to the police for investigation.
Handing out cash during campaigns, locally termed politik uang (literally "money politics") is against article 77 (1, 2, 3) Law No. 12/2003, as well as article 39 of KPU instruction No. 701/2003. The crime is punishable by a jail term and fines.
Topo, who is also a criminal law expert, added that legislative candidates, who are sentenced by courts for giving away cash to would-be voters, must resign even if they get elected and are in office when the sentence is finalized.
"We urge all legal enforcers to take this matter very seriously, and not be easily cheated by parties' maneuvers to camouflage these with gift, or in-kind, handouts," Topo said.
Panwaslu has recorded a number of such cases, including the donation of staple foods for poorer voters from the Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB) during a campaign in Jakarta and the distribution of money to supporters by the Golkar Party in Manado, North Sulawesi.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Freedom Party (Partai Merdeka) were also reported for offering door prize to attract people during their campaigns. On Tuesday, the National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Amien Rais distributed door prizes in Madura, East Java. The winner will get an all-expense paid trip to perform a minor haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
Topo made it clear he was irked with the United Development Party (PPP) leader Hamzah Haz, who is also the current vice president, for using a Puma helicopter owned by the Indonesian Military (TNI) to go to a campaign rallies in Sumedang, West Java, and President Megawati Soekarnoputri for also using state facilities during her campaign for PDI-P in Pekanbaru and Tembilahan in Riau.
"We will report administrative violations to the KPU, which will then decide to impose written warnings or to bar that party from further campaigning," he explained.
Separately, KPU member Hamid Awaluddin warned Amien Rais, the current Speaker for the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and leader of PAN, to be very precise in the accounting for the use of the party's new airline donated by his colleague.
"Amien must calculate the spending for the airplane because it will be considered as a donation, and thus it must abide by Law No. 12/2003 on election donation limits, which are a maximum of Rp 100 million from an individual and Rp 750 million from a company or organization," he said.