Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – Measures to prevent corruption in upcoming regional elections will focus on incumbent officials seeking re-election because they are the ones often caught doing it, a watchdog says.
The Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) said Thursday there were cases of incumbent officials using state facilities for election campaign purposes.
"In Central Java, for example, [an official] used his official residence for meetings. There was also a member of the Regional Representatives Council who held meetings in his office... Such practices are prone to corruption. It was the regional budget they were spending," Bawaslu head Nur Hidayat Sardini said.
Such abuse of authority, he added, could be defined as corruption. He said incumbent officials who were also candidates in regional elections were prone to practicing money politics.
The methods used by the officials begins with starting up social donation programs for the poor, road repairs and other infrastructure projects ahead of the campaigning season.
"This includes scholarship programs that are only realized ahead of campaigning although the funding has long been allocated," he said. "The frequency and the intensity [of such projects] usually increase drastically ahead of polling time," he added.
On Thursday, the board met with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to cooperate on preventing corruption and practices of money politics in regional elections, which will be held in 244 regions this year.
Bawaslu urged the KPK to make reports of regional leader candidates' wealth available to the board. The two will also cooperate in raising public awareness to monitor campaign funds, money politics and abuse of power and state facilities in regional elections.
"We also asked the KPK to train Bawaslu staff on preventing electoral violations," Hidayat said, adding that the board would also cooperate with the Financial Transaction Report and Analysis Center (PPATK).
KPK deputy leader M. Jasin said his organization would cooperate with Bawaslu in raising public awareness of the potential of corruption practices at all stages of the regional election. "We will call together all candidates [to educate them]. We will not only monitor, but also take preventive measures," he added.
If candidates still commit electoral violations even after such measures, Jasin said the KPK's enforcement division would investigate.
Bawaslu said there was the potential of electoral violations in regional elections, such as fictitious of campaign donors. "There might also be candidates who cheat on their campaign fund reports."
Illegal funding sources in regional elections are not easily uncovered, the board said. The public has also faced many difficulties in accessing candidates' campaign fund reports.
Hidayat said he also discussed with the KPK the potential of inaccuracies in the electoral rolls, as had happened in general elections held last year.
"In several regions, the electoral rolls were lower for the legislative and presidential elections. [The discrepancy in] the electoral roll in one region even reached 60,000," he added.