Indra Harsaputra and Wahjoe Boediwardhana, Surabaya – The five pairs of gubernatorial candidates have failed to adequately address the issue of the devastating mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, raising suspicions of bribery.

The family of Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare, Aburizal Bakrie, partly owns Lapindo Brantas Inc. The family has been widely blamed for the mudflow that started gushing out of its gas exploration well in May 2006, displacing more than 13,000 people.

"The news that the candidates have received funds from Lapindo is no longer a secret, but it is difficult to prove the flow of money from the Bakrie family," Bambang Sulistomo, Movement to Shut Down the Lapindo Mudflow secretary, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

He said he was offered by the campaign team of a candidate pair to become their vote getter.

Bambang instructed that the pair make the mudflow their campaign's number one priority. The pair initially accepted his demand.

However, the campaign team later canceled their political deal with Bambang due to "pressure" from a certain side, Bambang said without elaborating.

A similar statement was made by a member of a special committee on the mudflow at the East Java legislative council, who declined to be named. The councilor did not rule out the possibility that some candidates had received campaign donations from Lapindo or the Bakrie family.

Activists fighting for the rights of the mudflow victims said they had also received unconfirmed reports that all the gubernatorial candidates may have received funds from Lapindo. They said they are investigating the reports.

The accusation was flatly denied by Lapindo spokesperson Yuniwati Teryana, who said the Bakrie family had never provided funds to the election candidates. "We have never assisted all gubernatorial candidates in the regional election. Let the people judge and vote for them," she said.

In Sidoarjo, many mudflow victims said they were disappointed with the five candidate pairs for failing to come up with solutions during their campaigns to address the problems associated with the disaster.

"Now almost 50 percent of the victims have stated they will abstain from casting their votes because of their disappointment with the candidates," said Pitanto, an executive with the communication forum for victims in Sidoarjo.

He said that all the candidates refused to sign a political contract with the victims ahead of the election to be held on Wednesday.

The contract, prepared by the forum, requires the elected candidate to the victims' aspirations and includes an agreement to review the regulated compensation scheme.

Under the existing scheme based on a presidential decree, victims' families receive 20 percent of compensation as a down payment, while the remaining 80 percent is be paid in installments.

Most of the victims have rejected the scheme because the 20 percent down payment is not enough to buy a new house after being displaced by the mudflow.

"The mudflow victims consider that many politicians, lawmakers and gubernatorial candidates who have come to them made promises without taking concrete actions to resolve their problems. "Many of the victims are now apathetic towards political parties and their candidates," Pitanto said.

At a public debate earlier this month, all five pairs – Khofifah Indar Parawansa-Mudjiono, Achmady-Suhartono, Soekarwo-Saefulah Yusuf, Sutjipto-Ridwan Hisjam and Soenaryo-Ali Maschan Moesa – focussed their programs on the issues of poverty, education, farmer empowerment and the environment. The mudflow disaster was not raised at the event.