Moch. Fiqih Prawira Adjie, Jakarta – Transparency International Indonesia (TII) has urged the government to increase transparency and accountability of political parties, especially as the country regulates state funding for the political parties.
TII calls for the government to establish transparency measures for political parties under the National Strategy for Corruption Prevention (Stranas-PK).
"Our corruption perception index in the last few years, and other monitoring, indicate that it is important for the Stranas-PK [to also watch out] for political corruption," TII researcher Alvin Nicola said during a discussion with the Stranas-PK on Wednesday.
"Political corruption actually has a big impact [on the perception index] so it is important for the Home Ministry to [push for] increased transparency and accountability among political parties," he added.
In Transparency International's 2019 Corruption Perception Index, Indonesia scored 40, an improvement of two points compared to 38 in the previous year. The 2019 index ranked Indonesia 85th out of 183 countries.
Following the scoring that was released in January, TII researcher Wawan Suyatmiko said the improvement in Indonesia's score was triggered by "strict law enforcement on bribery and corruption in the political system".
However, then-TII secretary-general Dadang Trisasongko said there were tasks – namely how to break corrupt relations among state officers, civil servants, law enforcement and businesspeople – that needed to be completed in the future.
Government Regulation No. 1/2018 on Political Party Funding stipulates that parties winning seats at the House of Representatives receive Rp 1,000 (7 US cents) per vote, while those winning seats in regional legislative receive Rp 1,200 per vote.
As it is possible that the funding will be increased in the future, the anticorruption NGO also urges the government to issue a comprehensive regulation on the annual political party funding.