Commentary: Legislative candidacy: A truly costly, bizarre process

Imanuddin Razak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Commentary | Wed, April 24 2013, 9:19 AM

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What has been a secret in the past has now become a wide, publicly discussed topic, not only on — the much freer — social media, but surprisingly also on the ethically limited — print and electronic — mainstream media. The case in point is the widespread exposure of the costly and time-consuming candidacy for legislative posts; a rampant but swept-under-the-carpet phenomenon that could not have been publicly uncovered until this year.

In the past, such cases were only shared and distributed person-to-person with slow-paced transmission and no single source willing to be quoted by name for various reasons. Thanks to the diversification of media channels, particularly the emergence of real-time online media, information can be transmitted, uploaded and read within seconds.

The key behind media transparency and openness, however, is none other than the sources themselves who are increasingly more willing to be quoted by name. What used to be taboo or prohibited — either by self-censorship or through government-imposed restrictions — has now become a common feature in a more democratic Indonesia.

It was Bambang Soesatyo, a legislator with the Golkar Party, who was among a number of candidates that disclosed how costly it would be for a person seeking a legislative seat in the House of Representatives (DPR).

“In my opinion, to run for a seat in the House, a serious candidate must have at least Rp 1 billion [US$102,838] in his/her pocket,” Bambang, also deputy treasurer of Golkar Party, said as quoted by Kompas daily on Tuesday.

What Bambang has said is no lie as a relative of mine who ran for a House seat in the 2009 legislative election under a ticket from a small political party had to forget her dream as she could only afford to allocate Rp 600 million for the campaign in her electoral district (dapil) in Lampung. Her rival, a candidate from a big political party, spent Rp 2 billion and won the coveted House seat.

Bambang elaborated further that such a huge amount of money was needed to compensate for a number of personal expenditures, such as transportation to and from a candidate’s dapil and the accommodation during the pre-campaign and election campaign periods. The frequency of trips to the dapil would significantly increase during the election campaign and candidates would likely stay at one’s dapil to be closer to the constituents, he said.

Apart from personal expenditure, the money would cover logistical expenditure, such as T-shirts; banners; calendars; billboards; advertisements; events to draw supporters and/or potential voters; and for financing activities to help them win the hearts and minds of voters.

All of those exclude the special funds for volunteer polling station witnesses (TPS) — each paid in the region of Rp 50,000 to Rp 100,000 — there can be as many as 10,000 TPS in one dapil.

What Bambang and other candidates have revealed confirms that a ticket for a House seat — and also for seats at lower-level regional legislatures — is extremely expensive and is out of reach for most people. Such a revelation has also provided a clue, if not an answer, to the question: Why have so many lawmakers — at both the House and regional legislatures — been involved in, and even convicted of, corruption?

As a comparison, a House legislator receives a basic salary of Rp 30 million per month. Should one complete a five-year term as a lawmaker, you would only earn around Rp 1.8 billion, which — in most cases — cannot cover the costs incurred as a result of campaign expenditure. It is no wonder that many lawmakers succumb to corrupt practice.

The current legislative election system has apparently produced the lawmakers’ corrupt behavior. Worse is the response of political parties toward this fact and the costly legislative candidacy.

Instead of establishing transparent and accountable fund-raising and management systems and gradually preparing their members from the bottom up — to fill such legislative posts from the lower regional levels to the national level — they resort to a short-cut recruitment system and nominate celebrities, public figures and movie or TV personalities as their legislative candidates.

Such a short-cut recruitment system would produce a political system that would never mature and, as a result, volatile political parties whose members could easily, without regret or shame, move to other parties.

What then can be learned for prospective candidates in the upcoming 2014 legislative election?

Apart from thoroughly understanding our complicated electoral system, they must also be thoughtful and extra careful before deciding to run for a legislative seat. There are many examples of those who lost everything they had and still could not win a legislative seat, or those who won a seat but were later prosecuted for corruption.

Are the legislative seats worth the sacrifice?

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