Mustafa (Antara)

Central Lampung Regent Mustafa came out on Monday as one of the qualified candidates for the upcoming Lampung gubernatorial election. A few days later, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named him a suspect for allegedly bribing local councillors to smooth out a loan proposal amounting to Rp 300 billion (US$22.1 million).

However, Mustafa, a graft suspect facing a maximum prison sentence of five years, remains eligible to run until he is proven guilty, as per the election law.

In an effort to curb potential unrest, General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioner Ilham Saputra emphasized that the regent’s suspect status would not affect the legitimacy of the election outcome.

Should a candidate who has been named a suspect win the race, “[the result] will be annulled as soon as the guilty verdict is announced. It will be the Home Ministry’s authority [to do so]”, he said.

Mustafa is not the only one. In the same week, Subang Regent Imas Aryumningsih, who is running for re-election, was also allegedly caught red-handed accepting around Rp 1.4 million from a local businessman in exchange for a factory permit. The KPK suspects the funds were intended to finance her campaign.

The KPK on Monday also pulled in Marianus Sae, the Ngada regent currently serving his second term, for his alleged involvement in bribery pertaining to several construction projects across Ngada regency. Marianus has his eyes on the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) governor post.

Earlier this month, the KPK named incumbent regent of East Java’s Jombang Nyono Suharli Wihandoko a bribery suspect in a different case centering on an alleged misappropriation of health funds in the regency. Nyono was accused of using the bribe to fund his reelection campaign.

Experts lamented the series of corruption cases implicating local leader candidates, saying that such a state of affairs might compromise Indonesia’s quality of democracy.

Titi Anggraini, the director of elections watchdog the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), said their candidacy was a loss for the voters, who ideally should see the best candidates competing for office.

“If [corruption suspects] get elected, then the virtuous goal of elections becomes void,” she said, adding that “corrupt leaders cannot be responsible for public services, set up good local governance, let alone lead an anticorruption campaign”.

Separately, a legal and political expert from the Bandung-based Parahyangan Catholic University, Asep Warlan Yusuf, said graft suspect status was an early warning for voters. “It means they lack integrity, which will create more problems when they’re in charge,” he said on Friday.

 Yusuf also urged the government to revise the Election Law, to prevent similar cases from happening in the future. He further mentioned an ambiguous article that stipulates that a qualified candidate is one who never commits a disgraceful act.

“How do we define disgraceful acts? This part needs to be clarified if we want to prevent this kind of thing from happening”, he said.      

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) coordinator Adnan Topan Husodo said corruption was commonly conducted in two phases: prior to the election and when governing. “If they were already corrupt pre-election, they will likely do it again to pay back their campaign sponsors,” he said.

Among the main sources of the problem were the costly candidacy ticket that hopefuls usually had to pay to political parties in exchange for nomination, as well as a hefty campaign budget, KPK deputy chairman Laode Muhammad Syarif said on Friday.

According to a KPK study published in 2017, a nomination ticket for a regent or mayor post might cost around Rp 50 billion, while a governor candidacy seat was around Rp 100 billion.

“We took measures to prevent this by presenting the study to 12 political parties last year and encouraging them to reform their party financing system. However, reform remains unseen,” he said.

Separately, Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said his ministry had done its best to ease corruption at the subnational level.

“On various official occasions, my ministry has often conveyed anticorruption warnings, including warning about areas prone to corruption practices, so that the local leaders take notice. That’s our preventive measure. So now it depends on the individuals,” he said. (srs)

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