Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Amid concerns that some regional leaders are misusing public money and state facilities to advance their political careers, the KPK has vowed to make money politics one of its focuses in 2011.

"It may not be directly linked to corruption, but incumbent leaders are most likely to use government money for their campaigns," Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chief Mochammad Jasin told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

"Although it cannot be called money politics, such misuse of both local and central government budgets has a strong connection with the image and performance of the incumbent leaders," he said.

Recently, the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) slammed programs in several municipalities and regencies distributing a series of 10 books on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's leadership to school libraries.

ICW accused the Yudhoyono of using the education system as a personal propaganda tool. The National Education Ministry said nothing was wrong with the procedures used to procure the books, which were published by PT Remaja Rosdakarya.

National Education Minister Muhammad Nuh said every year publishers proposed thousands of book titles to the ministry for selection. He said the ministry approved about 1,000 of 12,000 proposed titles in 2009, of which municipalities could pick 30 to 40 titles for distribution in school libraries.

Critics, especially Yudhoyono's rivals, insisted that the practice was questionable since local administrations bought the books using the government's special allocation funds while the books benefitted the image of the President.

According to Jasin, some cases, especially those related to image building, fell into a gray area where the KPK could step in as long as there were indications that state officials had misused government budget for their own campaigns.

"Whoever they are, KPK can step in. But this is hard, since there is a strong connection between state officials and the government budget," Jasin said. He added that it would not be wise to judge without first studying the allegations.

Claims of money politics, especially claims related to the misuse of local government funds, would be one of the focuses of the KPK's corruption prevention division this year, he said.

Jasin cited the example Bekasi Mayor Mochtar Muhammad, currently in KPK custody in a detention center in Salemba, Central Jakarta. Mochtar allegedly used money from Bekasi's 2010 budget to bribe organizers to win the Adipura Cleanliness Award for the city.

"This is a case of bribery which has a connection with the image of the city and of course his image as well. It's not directly connected with money politics as usual, but somehow it led to it," Jasin said.

Competition for the Adipura awards, which were launched in 1984, has been mandatory for all cities since 2002.

Over the years Bekasi had been considered one of the dirtiest cities in the country due to the poor waste management at the Bantar Gebang landfill, which received 6,000 tons of garbage a day from Jakarta.

Mochtar repeatedly said he used the money to run programs to clean and beautify the city, such as a massive tree planting campaign, a program to relocate street vendors, and programs to improve waste management, dredge rivers and expand green areas.

One critic, Effendi Ghazali, said such things were ineffective strategies for image building. "[It's] not a smart move; they do not realize that it violates ethics," he told the Post. "Many local leaders use indirect budgets to avoid presumptions of budget misuse, such as the Idul Fitri greeting cards," he said.

Effendi was referring to West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan and Deputy Governor Dede Yusuf, who sent personalized Idul Fitri greeting cards in 2010 funded by the provincial budget. The cards displayed large pictures of Ahmad or Dede, respectively.

"Some leaders and state officials also think that using public service advertising for image-building does not violate any law," he said.

Ibnu Hamad, a communications expert from the University of Indonesia, said that the success or failure of local government programs was automatically attached to the local leaders' images. "Such programs make room for misappropriations for image-building because people judge their leaders by their programs," he said.