The Jakarta Post
Central Sulawesi administration secretary Mohammad Hidayat Lamakarate has said he is optimistic about being able to minimize his outlay in his quest to win the gubernatorial race in November next year. His optimism, he said, stemmed from the fact that the two parties backing him -- the Golkar Party and the NasDem Party -- have eschewed the infamous endorsement fee often required by political parties. “For a province like Central Sulawesi, I’ll have to prepare Rp 15 billion [US$1.06 million] to Rp 20 billion,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday, explaining that the funds would be spent on expenses such as polling and campaigning. Timbas Tarigan, the two-term deputy mayor of Binjai, North Sumatra, said he spent around Rp 2.5 billion of his personal money over the course of two campaign periods. “Of course the funds that I disbursed were...