Bawaslu Invites PPATK And OJK To Fight The Political Phenomenon Of Electronic Money

Member of the Indonesian Bawaslu Lolly Suhenty (Photo: Antara)

The General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) of the Republic of Indonesia is working to collaborate with the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) and the Financial Services Authority (OJK) to prevent the politics of electronic money ahead of the 2024 General Election.

This was conveyed by Bawaslu member Lolly Suhenty at the launch of the "Mapping of Election Insecurity and Simultaneous Elections 2024 - Strategic Issues of Money Politics" in Bandung, West Java, Sunday. "Bawaslu is exploring and trying from the beginning of 2023 to build collaboration, mutual understanding with PPATK and OJK, because today's situation regarding electronic transactions is a real challenge and we must have a strategy to prevent it," said Lolly, quoted by Antara.

Based on Bawaslu mapping, it was revealed that the phenomenon of rampant political practices of money electronically becomes a signal of threat of danger, it is increasing in the upcoming elections. "With the practice of money directly, it is not easy to fight, let alone with electronic practices," he said. He revealed prevention through open campaigns by giving the message that electronic money is part of election violations that must be encouraged at the level of society. Because, the increasing number of modes or ways of giving money or goods, preventive measures are demanded to be more massive and adaptive to the changing times. Furthermore, another problem in uncovering money politics is the lack of evidence and witnesses in money politics reports. So that the follow-up of reports is less optimal and stops in the middle of the road. "The need for optimal assistance in the community to increase awareness about the political dangers of money," Lolly hoped. Lolly conveyed public participation in the efforts to prevent and take action against money politics. He assessed that by continuing to disseminate information to the public about the dangers and political losses of money towards democracy in Indonesia, public awareness is getting stronger and more optimally involved with Bawaslu to prevent money politics. As for strengthening knowledge to the public through participative supervision is one of the keys to strengthening public participation. "Community involvement also needs to be supported by commitments of stakeholders, both election organizers and successful teams, as well as the government to jointly make the implementation of the 2024 General Elections done honestly and fairly," he said.

Meanwhile, Member of the Honorary Council of Election Organizers (DKPP) Ratna Dewi Pettalolo revealed that based on data on the handling of violations in the 2019 Election, money politics became the third position. Where the first position is occupied by the neutrality of ASN. For that, he hopes that the 2024 General Election can be free from money politics. However, the facts on the ground are certainly not that easy. Because, in areas with high poverty rates, it will also become the potential for high money politics. "For example, in Pandeglang Banten, people in Pandeglang say that there the voter participation rate is strongly influenced by money politics. If people are given money then the participation rate is high. This is a special note for us," said Ratna. Therefore, he asked Bawaslu to prepare a special approach to political prevention, especially in areas that have a high poverty rate.

Untuk meminimalisasi politik uang perlu dilakukan dengan pemetaan komprehensif mulai dari regulasi, politik lokal hingga budaya di masing-masing daerah.Ia menyebut, ada daerah yang memiliki budaya dalam membagikan uang pada saat pesta besar. Hal tersebut terjadi saat pemilu ataupun pemilihan kepala daerah."Apakah ini bisa masuk kategori pelanggaran politik uang? Padahal, ini adalah bagian dari budaya yang sudah ada, sudah tumbuh dan dipelihara. Ini jadi problem buat kita kalau kita biarkan terjadi ini akan jadi mengganggu proses pemilu kita. Kalau penindakan kita harus temu kenali apakah ini benar bagian dari mempertahankan budaya atau bagian dari memengaruhi pemilih pada masa kontestasi," tuturnya.