Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Political observers have blamed both the reluctance of political parties to reform their financial systems and toothless law enforcement measures as the major causes of rampant corruption in the country.
"State bodies abuse state funds for political purposes while the House of Representatives is filled with politicians who share similar interests. It is no surprise the government easily gains approval for dubious projects from the House, which is supposed to closely monitor government programs," said Abdullah Dahlan of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW).
"Political parties have become the most destructive corruption machine. They represent one of the country's biggest problems today," added Teten Masduki, the secretary general of Transparency International (TI) Indonesia. The multiple alleged graft cases linked to former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin have been the center of attention this year.
Having been named as the owner of several companies, Nazaruddin has been allegedly responsible in several graft cases in various ministries.
The graft-riddled resettlement area development projects, taken forward by the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, were said to have gained the approval of the House's budgetary committee because some "commitments" were made by partnering companies to allocate some project funds to politicians from Minister Muhaimin Iskandar's National Awakening Party (PKB).
"Political parties have seemingly been enjoying such dirty practices for years as they were reluctant to open their financial reports to the public," Abdullah said.
The 2008 Law on Political Parties, amended in 2010 sets caps on individual and corporate donations and imposes tight financial reporting requirements. The law requires parties to open their financial records for public scrutiny and specifically to have their management of public money audited by public accountants.
At the national level, the parties represented in the House receive public funding in accordance to the size of their representation. Their local branches receive funding under similar arrangements from regional budgets.
The law has also required parties to report on state budgets allocated to them, or else face administrative consequences.
Critics said the law was not perfect due to weak reporting requirements and had been ignored up until now as political parties had yet to make such reports.
ICW and Fitra, both nongovernmental organizations focusing on corruption, have tried to push political parties to report their financial statements using the 2008 Freedom of Information Law.
But these efforts have been to no avail since none of the political parties responded to reprimands by the Central Information Commission (KIP) that adjudicated the cases.
At regional levels, law enforcement institutions have sent numerous officials to jail for the embezzlement of aid funds.
Some officials were proven to have used the funds for regional election candidacies. The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) revealed that there was a total of Rp 300 trillion (US$33.3 billion) of social aid funds being misused for such purposes during 2007 to 2010.
Lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) admitted that reforming the political party financing system had been one of the toughest tasks.
"Political parties should have been the agent of reform. Many countries with successful anticorruption stories usually have political parties that promote transparency in their finances," she said.
Home Ministry spokesman Reydonnyzar Moenek suggested the amendment of a number of regulations overseeing social aid funds.
"For regional levels, an amendment of the 2004 Local Administration Law will be crucial," he said. "Our ministry has issued a number of regulations to prevent local budgets from being misused. But they always bend the rules," Reydonnyzar said.
ICW coordinator Danang Widoyoko suggested that political parties change the way they collect money.
"Political parties should collectively finance themselves from membership fees or donations. That would prevent winning candidates from committing corruption in order to pay back their 'sponsors'," he said.