Camelia Pasandaran – A nongovernmental organization on Wednesday called on the General Elections Commission, or KPU, and election watchers to investigate the campaign account details that political parties have submitted to the commission.
According to Ray Rangkuti, chairman of the Indonesian Civil Society Circle, or Lima, not one political party had submitted its true bank account details.
"None of the political parties submitted their real campaign fund reports," Ray said. "They reported some of the campaign funds in the bank account but did not reveal the majority of their funding," he said.
"The Election Law and the new campaign funding regulation order political parties to submit their opening balance along with its sources at least seven days before the public campaign starts and report the entire cash flow during the campaign – at the latest, three days after the campaign period is over," he said.
According to the opening balance of campaign accounts from all political parties, the Great Indonesia Movement Party, or Gerindra, tops the list of the biggest account balance with Rp 15.6 billion ($1.3 million), followed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party with Rp 7.02 billion, the Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS, with Rp. 6.088 billion, and the People's Conscience Party, or Hanura, with Rp 5 billion.
However, a report by AC Nielsen recently said that some political parties have spent Rp 30 billion on campaigning. Some parties have already embarked on massive television advertising campaigns.
"It clearly means that the parties did not put all of their funds or donations into the bank account. Consequently, they don't have to report it," Ray said. "Their balances do not reflect the reality. There are so many advertising campaigns, banners, posters and other advertisements related to the campaign. It must cost a lot of money. So they must be joking if the highest balance is less than Rp 16 billion," he said.
Wirdyaningsih, a member of the Elections Supervisory Board, or Bawaslu, said the board was now investigating whether there were donations that were not reported by the parties.
"We are in the process of investigating whether political parties deposited all of their campaign budget into their bank account," she said.
"We are coordinating with the Press Council to reveal what political parties are spending on advertising," she said. "This could be an early indicator of whether they have reported all of their donations or not."
Ray said political parties that did not deposit all donations into their bank accounts were violating the Election Law.
"The requirement is not only to submit the bank account number, but also to report the original balance and its cash flow."
He urged the General Elections Commission, or KPU, and Bawaslu to be strict with parties that did not honestly report their cash flow. "The KPU and Bawaslu should disqualify them from the upcoming election," he said.
Abdul Aziz, a member of the KPU, said the commission had not yet made any decision regarding political parties that had not submitted their bank account details at the regional level.