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akarta gubernatorial candidate Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and running mate Sylviana Murni may have to scrap their promise to disburse Rp 1 billion (US$74,197) for each neighborhood unit (RW) in the capital per year in a bid to lure voters.

The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) is currently examining the pair’s campaign promise, saying it may constitute an administrative violation.

The commission launched an investigation after the Jakarta Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) reported the possible campaign violation.

“What Pak Agus promises is not included in his policy platform,” Bawaslu head Mimah Susanti said on Thursday.

KPU Jakarta chairman Sumarno said he had received the report from the agency.

He said what Agus promised was not being considered as vote buying, but as an administrative violation, he added.

“The two are very different things. Vote buying is a crime and should be legally processed by the police, prosecutors and the courts,” Sumarno told The Jakarta Post.

If an election candidate made a promise in his or her campaign to allocate part of the budget for an official government program, it was not vote buying, he added.

“It’s not like he’s saying that if you choose me, then I’ll give you a certain amount of money,” said Sumarno.

However, the official clarified that the gubernatorial hopeful could be barred from continuing to promise the Rp 1 billion disbursement as a campaign tool.

“If the KPU agrees with Bawaslu, then the sanction will be a warning letter stating that the pair can only campaign on what’s included in their policy platform. According to Bawaslu, they can’t promise [what is not part of their platform],” Sumarno said.

The elections body, he said, would hold a plenary meeting on Friday to decide on the matter as soon as possible.

Responding to the investigation, Agus’ campaign spokesperson, Rico Rustombi, said the team believed that it was not fair for the election bodies to ban the team from using the campaign promise.

“The program conveyed in political speeches is a community-empowerment program. It’s a by-product of our policy platform and what needs to be understood is that the Rp 1 billion will come from the regional budget, not from Agus’ and Sylviana’s own pockets,” he told the Post.

Rico added that the team had explained that to Bawaslu.

“We highly object if our program is considered vote-buying. It’s a program that has to be explained to the people of Jakarta. They have to know and understand what Agus and Sylviana will do [if they’re elected],” he said.

Rico said banning Agus’ team from using the campaign promise would harm the pair’s candidacy “How can the campaign be effective is something like this is labeled ‘money politics’? It reeks discrimination because it means that only incumbents [have the opportunity] to concretely explain their programs because they’re already in place,”
he said.

Prior to the report, Bawaslu announced that Agus and Sylviana had made the most violations so far during the campaign period, from Oct. 28 to Nov. 10, with 15 violations.

Mimah said the violations comprised the presence of unregistered volunteers, campaigning without a permit, the involvement of children and displaying campaign material that did not follow regulations.

Meanwhile, she said candidate pairs Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno had made six campaign violations each.