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In Indonesian elections, money isn't everything, but it helps
Former candidates in regional elections say money "unavoidable" in securing votes, but it takes more to win an election.
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Get ready: A worker moves a ballot box for the South Aceh regency election from a warehouse of the South Aceh Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) in Tapaktuan, South Aceh, Aceh, on June 25, 2018. (Antara/Irwansyah Putra)
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aving unsuccessfully run in regional elections five times, Gerindra Party politician Tan Ngi Hing, 51, feels he has learned one important lesson: Money may buy many things, but not public office.
Tan said he first ran for a seat at the Blitar city legislative council in East Java in 1999 for the Justice and Unity Party (PKP) but lost.
Through the same political party, Tan met his second and third failures in the following regional elections. In 2012, he moved to the Gerindra Party and became a party executive, but again he experienced two more defeats in 2014 and 2019.
Tan has not given up. He said he would run for the same seat at the legislative council for a sixth time in 2024."I believe that to be able to influence public policies we have to enter the system and the most realistic thing for me is become a city councilor," Tan said.
Claiming to have never engaged in vote buying in his bids to win a legislative seat, Tan said he nonetheless spent about Rp 200 million (US$14,196) to fund his campaign activities in 2019.
"Our voters are very pragmatic in deciding who to vote for. It is based on how much money they receive [from a candidate]," Tan told The Jakarta Post.
He said in Blitar, a municipality of about 150,000, there were 25 seats on the legislative council. A candidate must have at least Rp 500 million to be distributed to at least 5,000 potential voters to get their votes, each receiving Rp 100,000.
