TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Hundreds of candidates fail to submit wealth reports
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU) Arief Budiman (left) speaks in a press conference on legislators' wealth reports (LHKPN) in a press conference on Monday, along with the deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Saut Situmorang (center) and KPU commissioner Ida Novida Ginting Manik. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
F
or anyone running for election, image is surely key. In posters plastered on streets throughout the country, many candidates try to portray themselves as corruption-free and people who uphold the law.
But for many of the candidates who are seeking reelection, the image they try to represent is often not entirely in accordance with their actions. Just over a week ahead of polling day on April 17, a large number of legislative candidates at the national and regional level have not yet submitted wealth reports.
Submitting the report, known as an LHKPN, to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is mandatory for all high-ranking state officials before, during and after their terms in office, as stipulated by the 1999 Good Governance and Freedom from Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism Law, and the 2002 KPK Law.
As of Monday, 12,681 out of 18,353 legislators from the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), the House of Representatives, the regional representative councils (DPDs) and the Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) had submitted their 2018 LHKPN, only 69.09 percent.
Only 4,140 out of 10,316 candidates running for reelection have submitted their reports, 40.13 percent. Out of 648 legislative candidates running for a seat in the House, only 96 have submitted their LHKPNs.
The KPK and General Elections Commission (KPU) held a joint meeting on Monday where they released the figures following the deadline they had set previously to receive the reports from Jan. 1 to March 31.
“This program aims to address one pressing issue within political parties, which is corruption. An election is the perfect time for an improvement because most candidates are endorsed by political parties. So this [LHKPN] is a crucial instrument in measuring their honesty,” KPK deputy chairman for prevention Pahala Nainggolan said on Monday at his office after a meeting with KPU chairman Arief Budiman.
