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PDI-P politician grilled for proposal to legalize vote-buying
A suggestion from an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker to legalize vote-buying practices has sparked sharp criticism from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and antigraft activists, who said that it will lead to more corrupt leaders being elected into office.
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A cyclist rides on July 22, 2020, past a mural in Surakarta, Central Java, that calls on people to reject vote-buying. (Antara/Maulana Surya)
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suggestion from an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker to legalize vote-buying practices has sparked sharp criticism from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and antigraft activists, who said that it would lead to more corrupt leaders being elected into office.
Speaking during a Wednesday meeting to evaluate the February general elections, PDI-P politician Hugua said the General Elections Commission (KPU) should look to legalizing and regulating “money politics”, or vote-buying, starting in the upcoming Nov. 17 regional elections, rather than banning it outright.
“We should think about legalizing money politics through a KPU regulation, but with certain limitations, since it is inevitable. If we had not done money politics, no one would have voted for us,” Hugua said.
He argued that placing limits on vote-buying would even out the playing field between election contenders, saying that past elections were essentially a contest between “businessmen, not politicians” who had the most money to buy votes.
“The wording [used in the hypothetical KPU regulation] could be ‘cost politics’ rather than ‘money politics’. Feel free to arrange it, law is just a matter of wording,” added the member of the House of Representatives Commission II, overseeing home affairs.
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Hugua’s suggestion immediately raised the eyebrows of other lawmakers in the room, prompting Commission II chair and Golkar party politician Ahmad Doli Kurnia to intervene. He reminded the PDI-P politician that the meeting was instead aimed to improve election regulations, so that “not even a single Rupiah” used for vote-buying went unpunished.
The notion was also condemned by the KPK, who told reporters in a separate press conference later on that day that it went against the commission’s own campaign to discourage voters from choosing election candidates who resort to money politics.
