Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – A report on public information requests filed by an NGO in Yogyakarta says several local political parties have been engaged in suspect financial reporting to avoid transparency and accountability requirements.
One such alleged shell game was to submit fictitious receipts to justify spending political aid (Banpol) money from the provincial budget, according Aksara, the NGO that filed the requests.
"The result of our discussions with the political parties shows that the tricks have been common practices among them. It's now our task to push them to be more transparent and accountable," Rani Pribadi, chairperson of Aksara's public information division, told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday.
Aksara filed requests under the Freedom of Information Law, asking for financial reports from the local branches of the Golkar Party, the United Development Party (PPP), the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), the Democratic Party, the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN).
"Overall, the information access results from the nine parties were not satisfactory," Rani said.
Although Aksara asked for complete financial reports, seven parties provided a breakdown of Banpol spending only, while the PKS and Gerindra initially did not comply with the requests.
The refusal of the parties appears to violate the Freedom of Information Law, which obliges parties to make available upon request information about their budgets, balance sheets and cash flows.
"Executives from the political parties do not yet understand the Freedom of Information Law and the amended Political Parties Law as the legal basis for party accountability and transparency," Rani said. None of the parties had their finances audited by public accountants, according to Rani.
The deputy treasurer of PAN's local branch, Zairin, said the government had limited the use of Banpol funds by, among other things, obliging them to spend at least 60 percent of the money on political education.
Zairin said that PAN also used the money to pay employee salaries. "But the format of our report is just as required by the Supreme Audit Agency [BPK]," he said.
Zairin said that the party had compiled a report of official travel expenditures, which other parties had not. He also promised to investigate Aksara's allegations of fictitious travel receipts.
Meanwhile, the deputy secretary of Hanura's local branch, Hartanto, said that many parties did not have employees who could keep the books.
Hartanto said that the Banpol money that the party received – Rp 25.3 million (US$2,600) – was too small to cover the party's expenses, leading the party to require its local councillors to give 15 percent of their take-home pay to the party.
Separately, Yogyakarta Information Commission member Surat Jumadal said that it was understandable if party officials did not understand the law on information openness. "The institution itself has only been eight months in existence and has yet targeted political parties in its familiarization programs," he said.