Jakarta – It is not uncommon for Indonesian politicians to spend billions of rupiah to win elections, especially in the regions; but only a few seem to care if their money is spent effectively.
Speaking at the launch of his book, "Political Branding & Public Relations", along with a discussion in Jakarta recently, marketing communications expert Silih Agung Wisesa said that politicians spend too much money for costly advertisements in mass media and overlook the importance of what he calls "community campaigns," which involve direct voter contact.
After doing some research, he concluded that politicians campaign hard, not smart. Silih said he analyzed the 2009 general election campaign budget from the General Election Commission (KPU) and made a simulation on how politicians spent their campaign money.
Silih, a London School of Public Relations lecturer, took one year to study the issue and draw the conclusion that 73 percent of the political parties' spending was allocated to media advertisements, while only 2.6 percent was used to develop community campaigns.
The media placement absorbed most of the campaign spending while material campaign making only took 7.55 percent, internal meetings took 7.1 percent and other needs took 9.8 percent.
He said that in many ways, politicians were selling themselves as if they were a new commercial product. "They appear on television and in newspapers everyday in big, colorful pictures. They dispatch enormous posters everywhere. That's not right and far from being effective," he said.
He said appearing on television or any other media would do well for commercial products but would likely fail for regional head hopefuls or political parties.
"People will notice a new coming product if they see its advertisements everywhere. But people will never be impressed by politicians' faces in big posters," he said. "Politicians should campaign smart. Don't do something vain."
Costly political campaigns in the regions have become a problem in democratic Indonesia.
Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi, who was previously governor of West Sumatra, has said that a gubernatorial candidate might have to spend between Rp 60 billion (US$7.02 million) and Rp 100 billion to finance their campaigns. The problem is that the costly campaigns are believed to have forced election regional heads to embezzle state funds to offset the money they spent.
It is reported that since the country implemented regional autnomy 155, regional heads, including 17 governors, have been named corruption suspects.
Silih said that many political parties used money in their political brandings, "while they can actually avoid that."
He added it made sense that many politicians committed corruption since they have to spend a lot of money for campaigning. "Once they get their position, they may be busy collecting money to pay the campaign expenses," he said.
Former vice president and former Golkar Party chairman, Jusuf Kalla, said that he predicted there would be no significant changes in the way politicians work. "I have observed the recent political situation and I predict the money competition remains high. But let's hope that the next election will be better," he said.
National Mandate Party (PAN) politician Arya Bima agreed that political parties should plan smarter political campaigns. He said that his party had prepared a better political branding.
In the previous election, PAN, which failed to finish in the top three, used celebrities to lure voters. "We are evaluating the strategy" he said. (lfr)