JAKARTA (Reuters) – Shanti Ramchand found out quickly what changed anticipated when she started out campaigning in Jakarta for Indonesia’s countrywide parliament – distributing envelopes of cash at a small campaign event and presenting a motorcycle or an air conditioning unit to the network chief.
Ramchand, an aspiring politician from the National Democrat Party, a part of President Joko Widodo’s coalition, is trying a unique technique to get elected. She eschews the cash and items historically given out on the campaign trail and makes it the centerpiece of her pitch to voters.
According to researchers, Indonesia – the arena’s third-biggest democracy – has a number of the worst money politics in Southeast Asia. Anti-graft advocates and politicians say handouts of coins and gifts cause rampant corruption in its countrywide legislature as a hit applicant to recoup their election expenses and more once elected.
Envelopes, commonly stuffed with cash from 20,000 to one hundred,000 rupiahs ($1.42 to $7.08), are generally doled out to citizens. These are small quantities, but the usual value may be significant over a six-month marketing campaign.
Earlier this month, Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) seized six garage chests in a concealed basement owned by Bowo Sidik Pangarso, a parliamentarian seeking re-election from the Golkar Party, some other celebration in Widodo’s ruling coalition. The chests contained four hundred,000 envelopes; everyone believed to comprise 20,000 rupiah – a total of eight billion rupiahs or over $566,000.
