The House of Representatives is mulling an amendment to the 2008 Presidential Election Law that would limit the amount of campaign spending by candidates.
Anna Mu’awanah, a deputy chairwoman of the House Legislation Body, said on Wednesday that it was important to cap campaign spending so that candidates would focus more on their programs rather than on boosting their image.
“It should be limited so that the public can be better informed about their political choices,” she said.
She added that the public needed “more effective political education” so that they could choose their candidate based on informed choices and not just because they happened to be the most familiar face.
“The presidential election campaign should focus more on the programs, not on the [campaign] paraphernalia or advertisements,” Anna said.
“We’ve been in the reform era for 15 years now, and yet most people still don’t understand the basics of the democratic political process.”
She said that if the bid to limit presidential campaign spending fell short, then greater transparency and obligatory audits should be prescribed.
She added that the House Legislation Body had yet to schedule a meeting to discuss the proposed amendment.
“A meeting has been scheduled for next week,” said Anna, from the National Awakening Party (PKB).
Nurul Arifin, a House Legislation Body member from the Golkar Party, said the current presidential election law only regulated the size of individual campaign donations, but did not cap the amount of candidates’ campaign budgets.
“Limiting the campaign funding for the presidential election would be good, both for the candidates and for the voters,” Nurul said.
“It’s important to regulate the campaign spending to prevent [candidates] from spending excessively, and it will also help prevent vote-buying efforts.”
House Speaker Marzuki Alie also expressed his support for the spending cap.
“It’s true that the presidential campaign spending needs to be limited,” said the Democratic Party official.
The presidential election is slated for July next year, three months after the legislative election.
The House has also been urged to legislate limits on spending by political parties and legislative candidates.
Poll observers argue that the huge spending by candidates is what drives many of them to engage in corruption in order to repay their backers.
by: Carlos Paath
source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/house-seeking-to-cap-spending-in-presidential-poll-2/
