Screening The Entry Of Haram Funds For The Presidential Election

Illustration Of Images By Ilham Andri Winarko VOI

The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced the determination of the candidate pair for presidential and vice presidential candidates yesterday, November 13. It has been confirmed that the Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar pair, Ganjar Pranowo- Mahfud MD pair and Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka pair, the last pair were almost trapped due to the process at the Constitutional Court.

The obstacle was finally resolved by the decision of the Honorary Council of the Constitutional Court (MKMK) which stated that the decision 90, which was previously discussed by some groups, was declared valid and applicable.

At the same time as the ratification, candidate pairs are also required to submit a list of accounts that will be used to hold campaign funds. Since then, the three contestant pairs will be monitored for funding both as long as donations and use them. There are three types of reports that must be submitted regarding campaign funds for the initial campaign report of Campaign Funds (LADK), while in the process of Report on Revenue and Donation of Campaign Funds (LPDSK) and at the end of the Report on Receipt and Expenditure of Campaign Funds (LPPDK).

The KPU had canceled this Campaign Fund Contribution Receipt Report (LPSDK). The reason they deleted LPSDK was because of the short campaign time. This had sparked protests from the Civil Society Coalition when the Clean Election consisted of ICW, Needdem, Netgrit, THEMIS, KOPEL, Public Virtue Research Institute, PSHK, PUSAKO FH UNAND, and Greenpeace Indonesia.

They saw that the cuts actually made the party not accustomed to accountable financial governance and the party could become a toy for investors, it could be the sale and purchase of parties.

Meanwhile, ICW in its relationship said that the reason for the short campaign time really did not make sense was used as an excuse to abolish LPSDK obligations. This is because the reporting administration process is not borne by the KPU, but by political parties. "We are worried that the actions of these KPU members are only to accommodate the political interests of election participants who do not want to be busy with administrative affairs of financial reporting," ICW wrote in its release.

However, in the 2024 election, the KPU issued KPU Regulation Number 18 of 2023 concerning Campaign Funds and again required the submission of Campaign Fund Donation Reports (LPSDK) for 2024 Election participants.

Political financing is not cheap, especially at this time ahead of political contestation. A candidate who wants to run as a presidential candidate (Capres) is said to have capital of around 5 trillion

With such a large fund, it will certainly be difficult to finance by the candidate or by his party, that is why the government based on Election Law no. The latest 7 of 2017 opens up opportunities for candidates to receive donations from individuals or agencies but donations are determined in size, for individuals it cannot exceed 2.5 billion rupiahs or those from groups, companies, and/or non-governmental entities that cannot exceed 25 billion rupiahs.

According to Yuli Fitriasti, the Sub Head of the KPU Election Contesting Campaign Fund in the socialization of campaign funds, which is meant to contribute 2.5 billion for individuals is once during the campaign period, "Not many times." he said. Donations of campaign funds in the form of money, goods, and services that can be converted or calculated with money and with fair price estimates. Most recently from the 2024 General Election, electronic money will take effect in receiving donations.

Yuli added that the creation of campaign funds used a special code that was recognized by PPAT. "We give PPATK special and wide access to track campaign fund accounts." said Yuli.

For the KPU campaign fund account monitoring system, a system called SIKDK is different from the previous election called SIDAKAM. It also gives access to Bawaslu, PPATK and other relevant agencies.

Titi Anggraini from Perludem said the donation must be recorded in the Special Campaign Fund Account and reported to the KPU to be audited by the Public Accounting Office. According to him, in Article 329 paragraph (2) letter c of Law 7/2017 concerning Elections, what is meant by legitimate donations according to the law from other parties, are donations that do not come from criminal acts, are non-binding, originating from individuals, groups, and/or companies," he said.

According to Titi, this needs to be monitored properly by Bawaslu with the support of all existing elements of the country, especially PPATK to ensure that illegal funds are not included in the presidential election funding scheme. As is known, PPAT said it had detected environmental crime funds, especially from the mining sector. According to the PPATK findings and they have been reported to the police.

"This really needs to be watched out for, especially since PPATK has indicated that 1 trillion environmental crime funds have entered political parties," he said.

He added that whoever has this interest, of course, the parties who are pragmatic and want to perpetuate their capital control will take advantage of the election to influence the candidate pairs in order to secure their interests.

Chairman of Bawaslu Rahmat Bagja after last week's Discussion event at Bawaslu, requested that every 2024 election participant report campaign funds to avoid violations. Both initial reports and final reports, both in the form of donations and others

Quoted from the book Political Financial Guidelines published by Idea, the reluctance of some parties to reveal how much money they poured into the political arena could also weaken the principle of transparency. Many people around the world have also realized that well-organized elections will not produce anything if the final result is determined by the currency sheet rather than the ballot paper sheet.

In many countries, there is a tendency for political commercialization to strengthen relations between the political sector and the business sector. Dependence on government aid funds is generally low, with several exceptions in several countries. Enforcement of political financial regulations is a crucial capital for increasing transparency in this region.

Financial reporting One of the basic foundations of a good political financial regulatory system is the necessity for parties involved to report how they get and use money. The purpose of this reporting is two. First, the information obtained from reporting can help achieve the principle of transparency as mandated by the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) or the UN Convention on Corruption Eradication, making it easier for voters to make decisions while at the voter. Fear of dealing with scandals and loss of voice support can be a more effective behavioral incentive than legal sanctions

Regarding Campaign funds, it is known that currently in the Constitutional Court there is also a judicial review of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections (UU Pemilu). This judicial review was submitted by Dorel Almir, Abda Khair Mufti and Muhammad Hafidz. They sued the law limiting the provision of donations by individuals by 2.5 billion and 25 billion groups or bodies.

But the Law, especially Article 326 of the Election Law, does not regulate how many restrictions are on the contribution of candidates and parties. They want there to be a limit for donations from candidates or parties, for pairs of presidential and vice-presidential candidates not to exceed 85 billion (eightty-five billion rupiah) moderately for groups including political parties and/or coalitions of political parties cannot exceed 850 billion (eight hundred and fifty billion rupiah). This submission is still in the process of suggestions for improvement, especially related to the constitutionality losses of the Petitioner caused by the a quo norm.

The Amin Pair Campaign Fund Management is looking further at the financial managers of candidate pairs in managing campaign funds. Anis admits that it will require considerable funds. To reduce that burden, especially for the production of props. Anies said that he did not print, his team only provided community campaign content and volunteers who would print.

Where did the funds come from for their campaign activities. One member of the Anies-Muhaimin pair's Success Team, said that apart from the contribution of the community, funds were also obtained from the initial capital of sharing between the two pairs, which amounted to 60 percent of the presidential candidate and 40 percent of the vice presidential candidate. Of course, from the support from the support of the supporting parties, "But I don't know what the value is, it can be asked to each party," said a source close to Amin's partner.

But what is clear is that this presidential election does not have a card-cardus dowry to political parties, when compared to the 2019 presidential election which was widely heard that there was a dowry with a code. "I guarantee that this Amin pair is at least than the others, which I am following exactly the process," said the source who claimed to be in the circle.

He admitted that he knew the concept for the detention, because he participated in conceptualizing the MoU agreement. He was also reluctant to mention the amount of funds collected from the couple. Amin's source around the tide was also reluctant to reveal how much the budget needed for the pair's winning needs. He said that the funding for the Amin market was not as big as the Prabowo-Gibran pair and the Ganjar-Mahfud pair. "We are still under them," he said. When mentioned the figure of the range of 1-7 trillion, according to him, was a moderate number for the purpose of the presidential election. "But we are not that big," the source said to VOI.