The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) yesterday uncovered what they allege to be a huge scheme to buy votes during next month's legislative election while arresting House of Representatives (DPR) member Bowo Sidik Pangarso during a sting operation in Jakarta.
Bowo, a Golkar party politician, was arrested on suspicion that he had received numerous bribes, among them hundreds of millions of rupiah from a fertilizer distribution deal. But the highlight of the case so far has been the KPK confiscating 84 boxes of cash, which they showed off at their press conference following Bowo's arrest yesterday.
"Our team [of investigators] moved to an office in Jakarta to secure cash totaling around IDR8 billion (US$562,874) in IDR20,000 and IDR50,000 notes that were put in envelopes and placed inside the 84 boxes," KPK Deputy Chief Basaria Pandjaitan said at the press conference as quoted by Kompas, adding that each envelope contained around IDR400,000 in cash.
"It is suspected that he had collected the money from various bribery schemes and prepared them for serangan fajar."
Serangan fajar, which literally translates to "attack at dawn", is an Indonesian political colloquialism that refers to giving money to constituents to buy their votes on the day of an election. Bowo is once again running for a seat in parliament representing Central Java next month.
The KPK denied any speculation that the money was going to be used to convince voters to choose either President Joko Widodo or Prabowo Subianto in the presidential election, which is set to take place concurrently with the legislative elections on April 17.
Following Bowo's arrest, Golkar – which forms part of the government coalition and is backing President Jokowi in the election – says it has cut ties with the disgraced graft suspect. Bowo could face at least four years or up to 20 years in prison if convicted of receiving bribes.
Like practically everywhere else, money talks in Indonesian politics and allegations of politicians buying their way into power tend to surface ahead of elections. Perhaps the biggest allegation of money politics so far this election season was against former Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno, who has been accused of paying a IDR1 trillion "political dowry" to secure his nomination as Prabowo Subianto's running mate. However, an official investigation into that allegation was dropped due to lack of evidence.