Novianti Setuningsih & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The number of corruption accusations being thrown against politicians and parties will surge in the next few months as the smear campaigning takes off in earnest ahead of the legislative election in April, a prominent watchdog says. Tama Satrya Langkun, a researcher with Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), said at a discussion in Jakarta on Sunday that "there are bound to be many cases of corruption coming to light as we approach the 2014 elections."
"We can expect to see some political character assassination as politicians jockey for position and advantage," he said.
Antigraft activist Robby Brata also predicted an increasing number of politically linked corruption cases next year, given the significance of the elections.
"Next year is prone to political corruption because the current political system is very expensive, and these people will seek to get their money back," he said.
He added the public had a role to play in monitoring the politicians during the campaigning and the election periods.
Other speakers at Sunday's discussion said the prospects of bundling underperforming or graft-tainted legislators out of the House of Representatives in next year's poll were virtually non-existent, given that four out of five candidates on the ballot was a currently serving legislator.
Bahrain, the advocacy director for the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), said that 80 percent of the candidates running in 2014 were "old faces who are set in their ways."
He said the YLBHI feared that the veteran politicians, once back in office, would resume their institutionalized corruption and ramp up their efforts to weaken the national anti-corruption drive.
"Based on the YLBHI and LBH [Indonesia Legal Aid] national congress, we will publish the names of these candidates in our black list to prevent them from being re-elected," Bahrain said.
He also called on political parties to improve the system through which they recruited new members to ensure that only those deemed to have the cleanest track records and were considered the most competent would be allowed to run for the party in the election.
"If it's the old faces again, the House will remain a tool for those in power to keep doing what they've always been doing," Bahrain said.
Separately, the General Elections Commission (KPU) has ceded to calls from parties and poll watchdogs alike to invite the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), the government's anti-money-laundering watchdog, to probe the accounts of parties and top politicians running in the polls.
"I believe the PPATK will most likely have that data, and we're now discussing a possible cooperation," Husni Kamil Manik, the KPU chairman, said on Sunday.