Novianti Setuningsih, Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Carlos Paath & Yeremia Sukoyo, Jakarta – The central pillar of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto's economic platform is the need to plug a "leak" of state funds of between Rp 1,000 trillion and Rp 7,000 trillion ($83.7 billion and $586 billion) a year.
The only problem: There's no such leak, according to the senior official who Prabowo cites as the source of the figures.
"I never said there was a leak; what I said was that that was the potential revenue that the state could be getting but wasn't. It's different from a leak," Abraham Samad, the chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, said at his office in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The numbers, he said, were right; but they were not cited by Prabowo in the proper context. He said that what he'd really said last September, an event that Prabowo has repeatedly referred to, was that with better management of the country's natural resources, including oil and gas, the state could potentially take in Rp 1,000 trillion to Rp 7,000 trillion in additional revenue each year.
Prabowo's running mate, Hatta Rajasa, who until last month was Indonesia's chief economics minister, has also clarified that the figures cited by Prabowo referred to potential revenue and not a "leak" – understood by the candidate to mean funds that the government already possesses, which are being lost to inefficiencies and corruption.
"This difference of views between [Prabowo and Hatta] gives a strong signal that they're not really on the same page," said Ray Rangkuti, the director of the Indonesian Civic Network, or Lima, a polling advocacy group.
He noted that the ticket's platform, including its economic policies, was drawn up mostly by Prabowo's Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), with little input from Hatta or other officials or parties.
"What's most probable, though, is that the entire platform is just jargon. There are just too many hurdles to make it work, both in theory and in the makeup of the coalition that's supposed to be pushing it," Ray said.
Prabowo's claim of such a large leak can also be seen as implicit criticism of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's economic policies – one of whose key architects was Hatta.
"So effectively it's a public slap in the face to Hatta," said Burhanuddin Muhtadi, the executive director of the Indonesian Political Indicator, a pollster. "He has indirectly accused his own running mate [of incompetence]."
He said Prabowo's camp would need to issue a clarification of what the candidate meant by "leak," to prevent the issue from casting further doubt on Prabowo's economic nous and his suitability to lead the nation.
"There needs to be a clear definition of what he sees as a leak, what he sees as corruption, and what he sees as potential lost revenue," Burhanuddin said.
He warned that given the accusatory context in which Prabowo framed his argument, it was unlikely that Yudhoyono would mobilize his Democratic Party – the only one not endorsing one of the two candidates – to support Prabowo.
However, several senior Democrats have already thrown their backing behind Prabowo, saying that although the party was officially touting a neutral stance, its support base was firmly behind the candidate.
"Democrat officials and our grassroots voter base will definitely vote for Prabowo-Hatta," Hinca Panjaitan, a spokesman for the party, said on Wednesday.
Prabowo is widely believed to have Yudhoyono's implicit backing, given that Hatta, who has long been one of the president's closest confidants, is also the father-in-law of the president's youngest son.
At least half of voters who side with the Democrats will pick Prabowo in the July 9 ballot, according to the Indonesia Research Center, a think tank.
"But there won't be an official party line [endorsing Prabowo] unless Yudhoyono gives the word," said Yunita Mandolang, head of research at the IRC.
She added that 115 of the 148 Democrat legislators at the House of Representatives had either voiced their support of Prabowo or appeared to be leaning that way.