Alms for the Not So Poor
There are many gaps in the report on campaign funds for the two gubernatorial candidates. Contributions are suspected to have been channelled through third parties.
THE list of those contributing funds to the campaign for Jakarta Governor has been made public. The Adang Daradjatun-Dani Anwar ticket was recorded as having pocketed more then Rp31 billion, three times the “wealth” of the Fauzi Bowo-Prijanto candidacy. “But the campaign fund donations are actually larger than recorded,” said Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) Political Corruption Division Coordinator, Abraham Fahmi Badoh, on Friday last week.
According to a rough calculation by ICW, at the very least Rp20 billion is needed to reach out to Jakarta’s 6 million voters. The cost could actually be five times this. In practice no candidate could run a campaign out of his or her own wallet. As of May 2007, Fauzi’s wealth stood at Rp38.347 billion while Adang had Rp17.34 billion. These amounts are far from adequate.
An announcement by the Jakarta Regional General Elections Commission (KPUD) on the campaign funds of the two candidates on July 22 provides an incomplete picture of who is behind the candidates. According to KPUD’s data, the Adang-Dani ticket has campaign funds of Rp31.4 billion while the Fauzi-Prijanto ticket has Rp10.9 billion. This value is a combination of donations from the candidates, the parties and their supporters.
Most of the Adang-Dani ticket funds came from individual donations with some Rp20 billion collected from 866 contributors. Adang himself put in Rp5 billion. The Justice & Prosperity Party (PKS), which is backing the two candidates, deposited Rp1 billion. This is different to the Fauzi-Prijanto ticket.
From their supporters, Fauzi and Prijanto received individual donations of Rp584 million and company donations of Rp375 million. Fauzi himself contributed Rp9.9 billion. What about contributions from the coalition of political parties supporting them? “The contributions from the political parties were zero,” said the head of the Jakarta KPUD’s Working Group, Muhammad Taufik.
ICW believes that the public report does indeed have many flaws. The KPUD does not elaborate upon how the contributions were sent, if they were through a bank transfer, cheque or cash. “When it’s through a bank account, it is easier to trace the sender,” said Taufik. The names of several contributors also did not include a clear address.
Fahmi had a similar experience during the 2004 presidential elections. Sponsors often provided contribution through a third party in order to circumvent the laws that limit the size of individual and company donations.
For the election of regional heads, Law No. 32/2004 on Regional Government stipulates that private donations cannot exceed Rp50 million. Company donations cannot exceed Rp350 million. “As a consequence, contributions that are larger than this amount have to be channelled though many hands so that it doesn’t violate the law,” said Fahmi.
Tempo tried to check on two contributors from each camp. Zakki Mustafa for example, a resident of Jl. Sindang Lorong in the Koja administrative district of North Jakarta, is recorded has having contributed Rp27.9 million to the Adang-Dani ticket. “I’m a sympathizer and also a party director (PKS) at the subdistrict level,” said Zakki. He said that the money was not his personally, but rather a result of collections made since the Ramadan fasting month last year. “The money came from donations by sympathizers and our members in Koja,” he said.
Usually Zakki obtains the funds by utilizing events where party members come together, sports events, or fetched from the homes of prospective contributors. “Indeed, we even distributed alms collection boxes,” said Zakki. “On account of most of the money being in small change, my friends and I often had to count it several times.” After collecting Rp27 million, the money was given to a party director.
Different again is Habib Zumanendra. A resident of Jl. Pademangan Timur 4 in North Jakarta, he was recorded as donating Rp15 million to the Fauzi-Prijanto ticket. “Praise be to God, there is good fortune at the moment,” said the agent from a foreign insurance company.
Habib clams that he is not a party sympathizer but just an admirer of Fauzi. “I can’t imagine [what it will be like] if he isn’t elected. What will happen to Jakarta?” he said. While Zakki considers that his contributions represent a part of the responsibility of all party members, Habib claims that he didn’t expect much. “But, if [I] can get a government official client, Praise be to God,” he said.
Included in the list of contributors to the Adang-Dani ticket are the names of PKS politicians who donated Rp50 million. One of them is Igo Ilham, who is also the head of the Adang-Dani election campaign team. “I made the donation because of the party,” he said. “There was no other motive.”
One of the private donors who contributed to Fauzi’s campaign is Jefri Geovani. The Executive Director of the Indonesian Institute contributed Rp50 million. “I made the donation because the Fauzi fundraising team came to me to ask for help,” he said.
Geovani does not feel that his motivation was economic or political. “There was no political investment motive or the like,” he said. “If the Adang team had come to me at the time, I certainly would have contributed the same amount,” said Geovani who was one of the candidate deputy governors that was dumped halfway through the nomination process.
Geovani feels uncomfortable at having his name cited as the largest private contributor to the Fauzi-Prijanto campaign. In his view the donation was nothing compared with the costs required for the election campaign.
He is proposing that the private donation limit is increased to Rp2 billion, while company donation should not be allowed to exceed Rp10 billion. “I’m sure there were other donations that were bigger than mine,” he said.
Recorded in the list of contributions to the Fauzi-Prijanto campaign categorized as company donations, is a contribution of Rp350 million. The address and identity of the company, however, is unclear. ICW suspects that it is possible that the donation was made by a regional government colleague who has been enjoying access to “sweetheart” projects.
The issue of the principle sponsor behind the candidates has indeed become the subject of rumor among the public. Take Fauzi for example. According to a Tempo source in his campaign election team that is taking up the slogan “Jakarta for All,” there is a businessperson that acted as the financial broker for the party coalition ticket.
It was the contributions from the businessperson’s colleagues that ended up being channelled to the party and the campaign team. His name is H. Jan Farid. But the businessperson denies being involved in the Fauzi-Prijanto campaign team. “I have no business with the campaign to elect regional heads,” he said.
Rumors have also assailed the Adang camp. But the former National Deputy Chief of Police asserts that no funds from businesspeople have been deposited in his campaign account. “Frankly, I would have a heavy burden if later on I, for example, accepted [contributions] from businesspeople,” he said. “It would become a future moral responsibility.”
The head of the Adang-Dani campaign team, Igo Ilham, also denies that funds have come in from businesspeople. “We contribute voluntarily as party members,” said Igo. Aside from Igo, a number of PKS members such as Refrizal and Rama Pratama are also recorded as having contributed Rp50 million.
Contributions from businesspeople are indeed something that is not easy to prove. Fahmi says that on the question of the sponsor’s motives, it is none other than to gain political connections and regional government projects. With the regional budget for Jakarta standing at around Rp17 trillion, it is easy to imagine the massive projects that could be enjoyed by contributors who succeed in scoring the winning goal for their candidate.
Abdul Manan, Reza Maulana, Ferry Firmansyah, Wenseslaus Manggut
Facilities for Jakarta’s No. 1
In 2006, the Jakarta regional budget was as much as Rp17 trillion. More than half of this (52.7 percent) would be spent on regional government officials’ wages. Spending for the governor and deputy governor would be around Rp9.7 billion or 0.05 percent of the total budget.
Rp3 million in wages per month
Rp100 million for healthcare
Rp65 million for official clothing
# Rp411.93 million in travel expenses Official car maintenance Rp51.93 million
# Accommodation Rp10 million
Adjutant fees of Rp977.7 million
# Speech drafting Rp887.7 million
# Organization of event schedules Rp90 million
Official residence Rp1.28 billion
# House maintenance Rp350 million
# Cable television Rp50 million
# Newspapers and magazines Rp90 million
# Cultural goods Rp50 million
# Household goods purchases Rp150 million
# Communication equipment maintenance Rp120 million
# Electricity Rp92 million
# Consumables Rp288 million
# Morning coffee Rp90 million
Tax levies of Rp176.25 billion
# 2003 data. Valued at 3.75 percent of tax revenue and fees to use public facilities in the capital city, the Home Affairs Department decree gives the authority to the regional head to deduct a maximum of 5 percent from the total tax revenue and fees to use public facilities for their region.
Regional company deposits of Rp100 billion
# 2005 data. The governor is the commissioner of one out of 33 regional state-owned enterprises and takes part in appointing the commissioners of the remaining regional companies.
Tempo Magazine, No. 49/VII/August 07-13, 2007
THE list of those contributing funds to the campaign for Jakarta Governor has been made public. The Adang Daradjatun-Dani Anwar ticket was recorded as having pocketed more then Rp31 billion, three times the “wealth” of the Fauzi Bowo-Prijanto candidacy. “But the campaign fund donations are actually larger than recorded,” said Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) Political Corruption Division Coordinator, Abraham Fahmi Badoh, on Friday last week.
According to a rough calculation by ICW, at the very least Rp20 billion is needed to reach out to Jakarta’s 6 million voters. The cost could actually be five times this. In practice no candidate could run a campaign out of his or her own wallet. As of May 2007, Fauzi’s wealth stood at Rp38.347 billion while Adang had Rp17.34 billion. These amounts are far from adequate.
An announcement by the Jakarta Regional General Elections Commission (KPUD) on the campaign funds of the two candidates on July 22 provides an incomplete picture of who is behind the candidates. According to KPUD’s data, the Adang-Dani ticket has campaign funds of Rp31.4 billion while the Fauzi-Prijanto ticket has Rp10.9 billion. This value is a combination of donations from the candidates, the parties and their supporters.
Most of the Adang-Dani ticket funds came from individual donations with some Rp20 billion collected from 866 contributors. Adang himself put in Rp5 billion. The Justice & Prosperity Party (PKS), which is backing the two candidates, deposited Rp1 billion. This is different to the Fauzi-Prijanto ticket.
From their supporters, Fauzi and Prijanto received individual donations of Rp584 million and company donations of Rp375 million. Fauzi himself contributed Rp9.9 billion. What about contributions from the coalition of political parties supporting them? “The contributions from the political parties were zero,” said the head of the Jakarta KPUD’s Working Group, Muhammad Taufik.
ICW believes that the public report does indeed have many flaws. The KPUD does not elaborate upon how the contributions were sent, if they were through a bank transfer, cheque or cash. “When it’s through a bank account, it is easier to trace the sender,” said Taufik. The names of several contributors also did not include a clear address.
Fahmi had a similar experience during the 2004 presidential elections. Sponsors often provided contribution through a third party in order to circumvent the laws that limit the size of individual and company donations.
For the election of regional heads, Law No. 32/2004 on Regional Government stipulates that private donations cannot exceed Rp50 million. Company donations cannot exceed Rp350 million. “As a consequence, contributions that are larger than this amount have to be channelled though many hands so that it doesn’t violate the law,” said Fahmi.
Tempo tried to check on two contributors from each camp. Zakki Mustafa for example, a resident of Jl. Sindang Lorong in the Koja administrative district of North Jakarta, is recorded has having contributed Rp27.9 million to the Adang-Dani ticket. “I’m a sympathizer and also a party director (PKS) at the subdistrict level,” said Zakki. He said that the money was not his personally, but rather a result of collections made since the Ramadan fasting month last year. “The money came from donations by sympathizers and our members in Koja,” he said.
Usually Zakki obtains the funds by utilizing events where party members come together, sports events, or fetched from the homes of prospective contributors. “Indeed, we even distributed alms collection boxes,” said Zakki. “On account of most of the money being in small change, my friends and I often had to count it several times.” After collecting Rp27 million, the money was given to a party director.
Different again is Habib Zumanendra. A resident of Jl. Pademangan Timur 4 in North Jakarta, he was recorded as donating Rp15 million to the Fauzi-Prijanto ticket. “Praise be to God, there is good fortune at the moment,” said the agent from a foreign insurance company.
Habib clams that he is not a party sympathizer but just an admirer of Fauzi. “I can’t imagine [what it will be like] if he isn’t elected. What will happen to Jakarta?” he said. While Zakki considers that his contributions represent a part of the responsibility of all party members, Habib claims that he didn’t expect much. “But, if [I] can get a government official client, Praise be to God,” he said.
Included in the list of contributors to the Adang-Dani ticket are the names of PKS politicians who donated Rp50 million. One of them is Igo Ilham, who is also the head of the Adang-Dani election campaign team. “I made the donation because of the party,” he said. “There was no other motive.”
One of the private donors who contributed to Fauzi’s campaign is Jefri Geovani. The Executive Director of the Indonesian Institute contributed Rp50 million. “I made the donation because the Fauzi fundraising team came to me to ask for help,” he said.
Geovani does not feel that his motivation was economic or political. “There was no political investment motive or the like,” he said. “If the Adang team had come to me at the time, I certainly would have contributed the same amount,” said Geovani who was one of the candidate deputy governors that was dumped halfway through the nomination process.
Geovani feels uncomfortable at having his name cited as the largest private contributor to the Fauzi-Prijanto campaign. In his view the donation was nothing compared with the costs required for the election campaign.
He is proposing that the private donation limit is increased to Rp2 billion, while company donation should not be allowed to exceed Rp10 billion. “I’m sure there were other donations that were bigger than mine,” he said.
Recorded in the list of contributions to the Fauzi-Prijanto campaign categorized as company donations, is a contribution of Rp350 million. The address and identity of the company, however, is unclear. ICW suspects that it is possible that the donation was made by a regional government colleague who has been enjoying access to “sweetheart” projects.
The issue of the principle sponsor behind the candidates has indeed become the subject of rumor among the public. Take Fauzi for example. According to a Tempo source in his campaign election team that is taking up the slogan “Jakarta for All,” there is a businessperson that acted as the financial broker for the party coalition ticket.
It was the contributions from the businessperson’s colleagues that ended up being channelled to the party and the campaign team. His name is H. Jan Farid. But the businessperson denies being involved in the Fauzi-Prijanto campaign team. “I have no business with the campaign to elect regional heads,” he said.
Rumors have also assailed the Adang camp. But the former National Deputy Chief of Police asserts that no funds from businesspeople have been deposited in his campaign account. “Frankly, I would have a heavy burden if later on I, for example, accepted [contributions] from businesspeople,” he said. “It would become a future moral responsibility.”
The head of the Adang-Dani campaign team, Igo Ilham, also denies that funds have come in from businesspeople. “We contribute voluntarily as party members,” said Igo. Aside from Igo, a number of PKS members such as Refrizal and Rama Pratama are also recorded as having contributed Rp50 million.
Contributions from businesspeople are indeed something that is not easy to prove. Fahmi says that on the question of the sponsor’s motives, it is none other than to gain political connections and regional government projects. With the regional budget for Jakarta standing at around Rp17 trillion, it is easy to imagine the massive projects that could be enjoyed by contributors who succeed in scoring the winning goal for their candidate.
Abdul Manan, Reza Maulana, Ferry Firmansyah, Wenseslaus Manggut
Facilities for Jakarta’s No. 1
In 2006, the Jakarta regional budget was as much as Rp17 trillion. More than half of this (52.7 percent) would be spent on regional government officials’ wages. Spending for the governor and deputy governor would be around Rp9.7 billion or 0.05 percent of the total budget.
Rp3 million in wages per month
Rp100 million for healthcare
Rp65 million for official clothing
# Rp411.93 million in travel expenses Official car maintenance Rp51.93 million
# Accommodation Rp10 million
Adjutant fees of Rp977.7 million
# Speech drafting Rp887.7 million
# Organization of event schedules Rp90 million
Official residence Rp1.28 billion
# House maintenance Rp350 million
# Cable television Rp50 million
# Newspapers and magazines Rp90 million
# Cultural goods Rp50 million
# Household goods purchases Rp150 million
# Communication equipment maintenance Rp120 million
# Electricity Rp92 million
# Consumables Rp288 million
# Morning coffee Rp90 million
Tax levies of Rp176.25 billion
# 2003 data. Valued at 3.75 percent of tax revenue and fees to use public facilities in the capital city, the Home Affairs Department decree gives the authority to the regional head to deduct a maximum of 5 percent from the total tax revenue and fees to use public facilities for their region.
Regional company deposits of Rp100 billion
# 2005 data. The governor is the commissioner of one out of 33 regional state-owned enterprises and takes part in appointing the commissioners of the remaining regional companies.
Tempo Magazine, No. 49/VII/August 07-13, 2007
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