Even Though It Is Legalized, Money Politics Does Not Guarantee Election

Photo Certificate: Illustration of Money Politics (doc. Indonesian Bawaslu)

JAKARTA - Executive Director of the Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO), Dedi Kurnia Syah, assessed that although the proposed legalization of money politics by members of Commission II from the PDI-P faction, Hugua was approved, this would not necessarily guarantee the election contestants' election electability.

The reason is, the practice of money politics in every election or regional election is actually not a big problem considering that prospective voters are still free to make their choice, even though they receive gifts from election participants.

"Giving to prospective voters is not part of bribery, because voters do not have the power to make decisions that have an impact on society," said Dedi, Sunday, May 19, 2024.

According to him, the ban on money politics will be useless because so far there have been no strict sanctions from election organizers against contest participants caught practicing money politics. Therefore, Dedi said that Hugua's proposal regarding the legalization of money politics was not a bad discourse.

Legalization is not a big problem considering that every time the election comes, the action is still sustainable even though it has been banned. Actually, if the money politics in question is the provision of political candidates to prospective voters, it is better to allow it, at least don't be prohibited, given that the prohibition still occurs, and there are no strict sanctions for the violation of the prohibition," he explained.

Dedi emphasized that the most important thing to improve the quality of elections and regional elections in Indonesia actually strictly regulates sanctions or punishments that are appropriate if the contestants practice money politics.

"Because so far the election participants have not received the appropriate punishment for violating these rules," he said.