When political parties need crowds to magically augment their ranks of campaign supporters, they only need to bring along cash, T-shirts and snack boxes of snacks to Jl. Kembang in Kwitang, Central Jakarta. And the people there will be ready to jump into the buses.

Residents of the area said they were waiting for invitations from parties to join their election campaigns — for a fee, of course.

“We look forward to their invitations. They give us money and T-shirts. But as of today, they haven’t given the order yet,” Nia, mother of a toddler, said Tuesday.

“Where's the money? We still haven't seen it,” she laughed.

“We'll go with whoever pays, I hope this time they pay us the red bills!” she added, referring to the Rp 100,000 (US$8.30) bill.

She said that prior to the 2004 polls, parties paid the residents Rp 10,000 to Rp 20,000 each.

“I just realized, is [the campaign] really starting in six days?" said her neighbor Sarmi, now in her late 60s.

"Why haven’t they told us yet?”

The General Elections Commission (KPU) ruled that parties kick off their campaigns starting March 16, ahead of the April 9 legislative elections. There are 38 parties vying for 550 seats at the House of Representatives, with 171 million eligible voters.

Sarmi said she went to campaigns held by three big parties five years ago in the three different areas of Kemayoran, the National Monument and Senayan.

Her neighbor, Ica, in her 30s, went along with Sarmi.

"We each got a T-shirt, a snack box and cash. There were at least 200 of us," she said.

Ica recalled that they went to the campaign venues on buses — hired by the parties — and were paid upon their return home.

“Everybody who took part in the campaign got money when we got off the bus,” Sarmi said.

Usually, she added, they got onto the buses at 9 a.m., and the campaigns lasted until noon.

“I went with my neighbors. My children were working, so they couldn't join in," she said.

Sarmi added residents there had long been "supporters for hire" during election campaigns, ever since former president Soeharto's era.

The phenomenon, however, did not only take place in major cities like Jakarta. Sarmi said she also joined campaigns in her hometown of Wonogiri, Central Java, during the 1980s and 1990s.

"I remember they paid me about Rp 500. No! I mean Rp 5,000. It was a big amount at that time,” she said.

With the election now only a month away, Ica said residents in the area had already received T-shirts from a party.

"But they haven't given us a campaign schedule,” she added, refusing to name the party.

However, 46-year-old Syaiful said officials from a party had already visited the area.

“Yesterday, one legislative candidate visited our kampung, telling us to be ready because in about two days' time, he would be back to hand out cooking oil, rice and sugar, at lower prices [than market prices]," he said.

Syaiful claimed he had just finished putting up a large banner for a major party, along with his friend Beben.

“The party paid us Rp 100,000 to put up this banner. We shared the money among the five of us who received the order,” he said.

Like most areas in the capital, Kwitang is now drowning in a sea of colorful party flags and banners. With 11,225 legislative candidates fighting to garner votes at the polls, many have plastered their banners and posters all across the city to bombard voters with their faces and party logos.

Syaiful said he and his friends had just put up 30 flags for another party, for which they received Rp 300,000.

“Another party has ordered us to put up their flags, and we have to get the flags at their place, but we haven’t had the chance to fetch them today,” he said. (iwp)

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