Dicky Christanto, Denpasar – Bali General Election Commission (KPUD) chairman Anak Agung Gede Oka Wisnumurti on Wednesday said he had received the wealth list of all the candidates participating in the upcoming gubernatorial election.
He received the list from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
"As stipulated by the local administration law, we have to announce the candidates' wealth to the public as part of the effort to establish a transparent public administration," he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
The list shows that all the participating candidates are billionaires with the Golkar-backed governor candidate, Cokorda Budi Suryawan, at the top of the list with a total wealth, as of May 1, 2008, of more than Rp 18 billion (US$2 million). The last time the former two-time regent of Gianyar reported his health was in December 2003. At that time, his personal wealth reached a mere Rp 1.7 billion.
The list stated that the steep increase in Suryawan's wealth was due to the enormous inheritance worth around Rp 8.5 billion he received from his family. Suryawan belongs to the royal family of Ubud, which is among the wealthiest house of nobilities in Bali.
The incumbent regent of Jembrana, I Gde Winasa, sat in second place with a personal wealth of around Rp 14.3 billion. In 2005, his reported wealth was nearly Rp 10 billion.
Most of Winasa fortunes came in the form of land possession, which he set as farming and husbandry industries worth over Rp 12 billion.
Former chief of the National Anti Narcotic Agency I Made Mangku Pastika, who was named as a candidate by the largest political party in Bali, the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle, held the third position in term of personal wealth.
By April this year, the three-star police general recorded a total personal wealth of Rp 6.2 billion plus an additional US$10,000, almost doubling his wealth of Rp 3.7 billion plus $10,000 in 2005.
Coming after the general was I Gde Winasa's running mate, IGB Alit Putera, who was recorded a personal wealth worth around Rp 2.8 billion plus $20,000. But, unlike the other candidates who booked a significant increase of wealth in the recent years, Putera's personal wealth decreased significantly. In April 2001, the retired Army's brigadier general and former vice governor of Bali reported a combined personal wealth worth around Rp 5.5 billions and $20,000.
In the fifth place was Suryawan's running mate, I Njoman Gede Suweta. The retired one-star police general was reported of having a personal wealth worth around Rp 2.4 billion.
The "poorest" candidate on the list was Mangku Pastika's running mate and the current mayor of Denpasar, AA Ngr Puspayoga. He was reported of having a combined personal wealth worth around Rp 1.9 billion, a slight decrease from his 2007's wealth of around Rp 2 billion.
Wisnumurti said by publicly announcing the wealth list the KPUD wanted to provide the public with an opportunity to scrutinize and verify the list.
"If the public find some discrepancies between the list and the actual condition, they can directly file a report to the KPUD or KPK," he said.
When asked whether the hopefuls' plush economic conditions could prevent them from committing any corruption, Ngurah Rai University rector Cokorda Gede Atmaja said that it guaranteed nothing since corruption carried out by public officials was mostly driven by greed instead of need.
"Maximizing every monitoring efforts, especially empowering the press, can help us prevent the next administration from conducting such practices."