Political Costs Are Expensive Because Of The Habit Of Counting Votes With Money, Not The Need For Contestation

The sticker "Rejects and Opponents of Money Politics" during the socialization of participation supervision and declaration of the rejection of money politics in Kudus, Central Java, Sunday (17/03) ahead of the 2019 General Election. (Between/Yusuf Nugroho)

JAKARTA The statement by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 2014-2019 period Fahri Hamzah about the luxurious political costs of dividing observers into two camps. Some agree, but there are also those who are optimistic that politics in Indonesia does not only rely on fuses.

On one occasion, Fahri revealed the minimum capital needed by someone to become a member of the DPR. Not kidding, according to him, it takes billions of rupiah to be able to sit in the chair of the people's representatives.

"I think maybe the range is yes, from people who really don't really have it, maybe for the center it's IDR 5 billion to IDR 15 billion," Fahri said on May 24, 2023.

Political costs can be much greater when talking about the presidential election fight. The capital, said Fahri, could reach trillions of rupiah.

"But if the presidential election is crazier in my opinion. In Indonesia, if people don't have Rp5 trillion in cash, they can't run for president. Realized or not," he said.

The high political costs in Indonesia are in the spotlight. Many consider this luxurious political cost to be one of the causes of politicians who are caught in corruption, even at the regional head level. This was even acknowledged by Deputy Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Alexander Marwata.

The results of a study by the Ministry of Home Affairs' Research and Development in the 2015 Pilkada showed that the costs incurred to win the election of regents/mayors ranged from Rp. 20-30 billion. Meanwhile, the number of Pilgub is much higher, ranging from Rp. 20-100 billion. The political costs are much greater than the average salary of regional heads which ranged from Rp. 5 billion for one period.

"A big question, why are so many regional heads corrupt, it turns out that political costs are expensive, the root of the problem," Alex said in a press release on July 4, 2023.

However, the assumption that it takes a big cost for politics is not fully agreed by the Executive Director of Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) Dedi Kurnia Syah. Dedi emphasized that the General Elections Commission (KPU) never mentioned the contestation registration rate.

"The high cost is an initiative from participants and parties, because they thought money was a source of choice from the start, this situation made voters more pragmatic because they thought that every contestant would spread money. In fact, that's not true," said Dedi to VOI.

"Suppressing political costs can be done by strengthening PKPU, for example regulating campaign techniques that are indeed efficient, currently there are no rules, so everyone competes with their respective standards," he added.

The difficulty is that high political costs are the cause of corruption, which can also be seen from many cases. KPK data shows that from 2004 to 2020 there were 150 regional heads who were caught in corruption, consisting of 21 governors and 129 regents/mayors.

One of the corruption cases of regional heads was when the KPK arrested the pair of politician Ben Brahim S Bahat and his wife, Ary Egahny. Ben is the Regent of Kapuas, Central Kalimantan, while Ary is a member of the Nasdem Party faction.

Ben and Ary are suspected of committing corruption to fund the contestation in the Pilkada and Legislative Elections, pay national survey institutions, and cost their livelihoods. Both are estimated to receive corruption results worth IDR 8.7 billion.

Ahead of the 2024 General Election, it is not impossible that this practice will repeat itself. However, Dedi said that the corruption carried out by politicians was not only based on expensive political costs, but it had become a mental illness for the corruptor. Not to mention the addition of regulations on political costs that have not been maximized is the cause of the large amount of money that must be spent by politicians.

For example, the DPR RI has succeeded in getting votes to qualify for parliament with a logistics capital of not more than 3 billion, while the income from the DPR RI for one period can be more than that. This means that even without corruption, even though their lives are guaranteed," explained Dedi.

"Corruption is purely a mental illness, plus regulations regarding prevention that have not been maximized. Not because of the high political cost factor," he added.

He emphasized that not a few activists who escape without having to cost a lot of money, although indeed more are at large costs. According to him, this 'rich man' has actually damaged political contestation.

"This means that big costs are not the need for contestation, but only the bad effects of the habit of rich people counting votes with money. That's why using money to be selected is a crime. It's better not to be elected by the public," said Dedi.