PAN agrees with the KPK's proposal to limit cash transactions, political money can be suppressed

Illustration of the election (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The National Mandate Party (PAN) supports the idea of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to limit the use of cash or money during the general election (pemilu) stage. This step is considered important to strengthen the integrity of democracy and suppress the practice of political money.

Deputy Chairman of PAN, Viva Yoga Mauladi, emphasized that limiting cash transactions in elections can purify the people's vote, as well as encourage transparency and modernization in the political campaign process. "People will choose based on the values, strategies, and capacity of candidates, not just the contents of the bag," he said in Jakarta, Sunday, April 26.

According to Viva Yoga, this policy will make the people's voice really be the determinant of the direction of democracy, not the power of capital or the dominance of the money owners. Thus, the election is expected to bring political justice, equal competition, and an integrity democratic process.

Viva Yoga assesses that the idea of limiting cash is not only needed to be seen from the perspective of preventing political money or vote buying. More than that, this policy is also related to the social and cultural systems of society, the design of political laws, to the existing power structure.

Therefore, a detailed, rational, and operational formulation is needed through a revision of the Election Law and the Regional Election Law. Moreover, the current Indonesian political system still depends heavily on high costs, while cash is a fast, flexible, and difficult to trace transaction tool.

Viva Yoga also cited a number of countries that have implemented similar policies in elections, such as India, Brazil, and South Korea.

PAN emphasized that the restriction on cash was not intended to hinder the flexibility of political activities. Instead, this step aims to maintain the value of people's sovereignty so that it does not turn into an economic commodity in the practice of buying and selling votes. "This idea will effectively suppress money politics significantly," said Viva Yoga.

However, he admitted that cash restrictions did not automatically remove the practice of money politics completely. The modus could switch to digital transfers through third parties or other more veiled forms.

This policy is considered to be very effective for formal campaign transactions, such as advertising payments, logistics, to consulting services, especially in urban areas with good banking services.

Currently, the rules regarding restrictions on cash transactions in elections and regional elections have not been specifically regulated. The existing regulations are only limited to regulating the maximum limit of individual donations, companies, and campaign fund reporting obligations.

Regarding this, PAN encourages the addition of articles that regulate the limit of cash transactions, the obligation of non-cash transactions through banking, digital wallets, and QRIS. In addition, supervision also needs to be integrated with other institutions, such as the Financial Transaction Reporting and Analysis Center (PPATK).

"Cash restrictions can be a control tool in reforming political costs, provided that the law is enforced fairly and there is a cultural change from party elites and voters to end transactional patterns in elections," said Viva Yoga.