Finance Minister Sri Mulyani providing lecture at the University of Indonesia. (Photo: Twitter/@KemenkeuRI)
If possible, we'd love to see some accountability and open management of the fund.
29 Agustus 2017 10:45
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani approved the proposal of Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo on political party funding raise. The funding increase is stated in Letter of the Minister of Finance No. 277/MK.02/2017 on March 29followed by revision of Government Regulation No. 5/2009 on Financial Aid to Political Parties.
The increase on political party funding was also based on several recommendations, one of them came from KPK. Theagency once even proposed a bigger raise.
"Indeed, Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) recommended it since political parties must function without corruption. Many of them (graft suspects) admit committing corruption for their party, for political reasons," said Sri Mulyani during the National Women's Legislative Workshop of Golkar Party at the Sultan Hotel, Jakarta, Sunday.
"KPK's recommendation is slightly bigger, Rp 1,071 per valid vote. But, we've given it an evaluation. The current amount of Rp 108 per vote will become Rp 1,000," revealed Sri Mulyani.
Those political parties, according to Sri Mulyani later would be required to provide political education to their cadres, so that the fund would also be useful for the society.
KPK Commissioner Saut Situmorang asserted that the increase must be followed by an audit.
"That is a state fund, so it must be audited as well to fit its purpose," said Saud.
The deputy chairman added, "KPK will design a model and management guidance for accountability."
He argued by doing that, the corruption could be curbed.
On the other side, Indonesian Corruption Watch researcher Donal Fariz considered the government is still halfway to fix the political parties in Indonesia.
"Raising the funds without improving the aspect of democratization from the party's internal side, without improving its transparency and without establishing a better party accountability would not lift our parties' quality," said Donal.
The ICW analyst mentioned that the increase would not guarantee the immoral behavior to completely perish from the body of political parties.
"To absolutely eradicate corruption, it might never happen. But, for lowering the possibility of corruption due to financial needs chargedby parties to their members, it is possible," said Donal.
