T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) decided over the weekend that it would not directly take part in the upcoming Golkar Party national congress slated for April.

Despite earlier remarks on possible vote buying relating to the congress, KPK commissioner Laode Syarif said the antigraft body refused to formally accept any offer to take part in the political event or provide input on preparations for the congress.

'€œWe will not be directly involved in the Golkar congress, but our message is very clear: there shall not be any vote buying,'€ Laode told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

KPK spokesperson Yuyuk Andriati previously said that the commission would only help political parties with preventive measures and awareness-raising initiatives.

Amid allegations that candidates in the party'€™s leadership race have resorted to vote-buying ahead of the congress, Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie said on Tuesday that the KPK and the police would be brought in for preventive measures to ensure that candidates did not resort to dirty tactics to win votes.

The proposition was also endorsed by various members of the party, including deputy chairman Agung Laksono, party veteran Theo L. Sambuaga and young guns like Ace Hasan Syadzily.

Previously, KPK deputy chairman Thony Saut Situmorang issued a warning to politicians nationwide that reports of vote-buying ahead of the Golkar congress might prompt the antigraft body to closely monitor the event.

Saut indicated that such oversight practices were necessary considering the party'€™s recent endorsement of the government after almost a year of positioning itself with the opposition coalition led by the Gerindra Party.

As the party that won the second largest number of votes in last year'€™s presidential election, Golkar stands to become a formidable camp in Jokowi'€™s administration, with enough political clout to demand strategic positions in government.

'€œPeople who go into politics will more or less determine the direction in which our country is going,'€ Saut said recently.

Ahead of the congress, two of the party'€™s strongest contenders, House of Representatives Speaker Ade Komaruddin and Golkar'€™s House faction leader Setya Novanto, have become the subject of smear campaigns.

Setya was accused on social media of asking someone to falsify his signature for the attendance record of a House plenary meeting on Tuesday, when he was actually away in the regions campaigning.

Ade was accused of vote-buying practices in the regions, as well as allegedly accepting a private jet from a businessman in Kalimantan. Both parties denied any involvement in the incidents, but have leveled thinly veiled accusations at each other.

Political analyst Gun Gun Heryanto of Jakarta State Islamic University (UIN) recently suggested that party chairman Aburizal was merely paying lip service to the public regarding the plan to involve the KPK in the upcoming congress.

'€œThe inherent mentality is to normalize certain kinds of political costs such as travel expenses and accommodation [that enable regional branch executives to participate in party events hosted in big cities],'€ Gun Gun explained.

The political communications expert said that party executives could start by drafting an agreement on provisions to ensure the transparency of political funding by candidates running in the leadership race.

He recommended taking lessons from the 2014 presidential election, such as requiring candidates to report their campaign funds or having independent auditors crosscheck donations and other financial income.

'€œIf everything is left to the candidates, there will always be vote buying,'€ he said.
_____________________________________