Corruption Circle of Regional Heads and the Bad Governance of Political Parties

JAKARTA - The arrest of Madiun Mayor Maidi and Pati Regent Sadewo in a hand-in-hand operation (OTT) adds to the long list of regional heads who are entangled in the corruption circle.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested two regional heads through OTT in two regions for two different cases, Monday (19/1/2026). Maidi was arrested in the Madium area, East Java, related to alleged bribery of company social responsibility (CSR) and social responsibility (CSR) projects.

Meanwhile, Sudewo was arrested in the Pati area, Central Java, in connection with the alleged bribery case for filling village apparatus positions.

Head of the Information Center of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) Benni Irwan said this incident should be a lesson for regional heads. However, Benni then linked this incident to the mechanism for the direct election of regional heads.

According to him, there needs to be a joint study on the pattern of recruitment of regional heads in the future. Moreover, the two regional heads who were caught in the OTT KPK were born from the direct gubernatorial election process. The recruitment pattern, according to Benni, could be the root of the corruption problem so far. That is why, the selection system must be improved.

Less than a year in office, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has recorded at least eight regional heads and deputy regional heads who have been entangled in corruption cases, six of whom were caught by the KPK OTT in 2025, while the other two were arrested in mid-January 2026.

This series of cases adds to the number of cases of corruption of regional heads which is already very large. According to ICW monitoring from 2010 to 2024, there are 356 regional heads who are involved in corruption cases.

If Benni considers the recruitment pattern to be the root of corruption, researcher at the Center for Anti-Corruption Studies at Gadjah Mada University (Pukat UGM) Zaenur Rohman actually stated otherwise. According to him, direct elections are not the root of corruption by regional heads. The main problem, said Zaenur, is high-cost politics which is influenced by the purchase of candidates and support.

"If it is then changed to indirect, the corruption will not disappear. The high cost politics will still happen. In fact, the buying candidate will rise," said Zaenur.

The change in the election system to an indirect one, according to Zaenur, will eliminate public control over the government. If so, then the people do not have the power to determine their fate through the democratic process. For this reason, changing the system does not necessarily answer the problem of direct elections which are accused of being the root of the corruption problem.

Previously, the discussion about replacing the election system from direct to being chosen by the DPRD has been widely discussed lately. Golkar Party Chairman Bahlil Lahadalia alluded to the discussion of the election by the DPRD to be re-enacted, replacing the direct election system.

This idea was apparently welcomed by President Prabowo Subianto, with the excuse that one of them was to save the budget for direct gubernatorial elections which cost a lot.

Meanwhile, ICW highlighted the poor quality of political party governance as one of the factors that made regional head corruption continue to flourish. ICW assessed that the emergence of the gubernatorial discourse by the DPRD in order to improve the quality of people's leadership is a wrong target.

Because the reality is, the quality of the people's leaders is caused by the poor governance of the party which has an influence on the candidate for regional head candidacy process.

"The mechanism for kaderisasi and political education is not carried out seriously by the party. The main focus is only the interest to win the election and secure the post without considering the candidate's capabilities and track record," said ICW in a statement received.

"The impact is that the candidate who is carried tends to only rely on popularity without relevant experience and integrity assurance," ICW added.

Another factor is the issue of political dowry that must be paid by candidates to the party to get support for the nomination. This cost is also contributing to the high cost of politics that must be borne by candidates for regional heads.

According to many of the candidates for regional heads, the contest at the provincial level requires a cost of no less than Rp50-Rp100 billion.

"This is undoubtedly one of the factors that cause corruption for regional heads who want to immediately return their political capital and even as preparation for the next term candidacy.

Finally, there is a cultural problem or what has become a culture, namely the party's demand that cadres who have served contribute to supporting the party's operations. This is inseparable from the party's funding which is still minimally funded by the state, making the party still have to rely on donations from various parties including its cadres.

ICW cited the case of corruption of Pemalang Regent Mukti Agung Wibowo who was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison in 2023. In this case, it was found that some of the money from the corruption was given to the party.

For this reason, ICW emphasizes the importance of comprehensive reform of political party governance, ranging from recruitment mechanisms to kaderization. "Without improvement upstream, namely in political parties, then the quality of regional heads will continue to be problematic and the circle of corruption is difficult to break," concluded ICW.