by : Muhammad Husni *)
Based on the results of the thinking that was born by the thinkers of the Frankfurt School which incidentally came from Marxism circles, revealed an interesting theory that the world of politics is a transactional stage between economic (business) and political (power) interests. That the peak of political success is being able to gain power and be able to reap the economic coffers that can prosper the politicians and their groups.
Whereas the theory of power political economy with a critical paradigm states that the peak of power is not to gain power and access sources of prosperity, but to fight for common (public) interests. This last theory is mostly only used as rhetoric material, while the practice is still far from expectations. Transactional, conscious or unconscious political logic has influenced the course of political life in the country.
In the democratic party facing the 2019 Presidential Election, various information on transactional politics was aimed at the presidential and vice-presidential candidates Prabowo-Sandiaga. Deputy Secretary General of the Democratic Party , Andi Arief , said some time ago that there was transactional politics between the General Chairperson of the Gerindra Party Prabowo and the Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Sandiaga Uno in the selection of vice presidential candidates. Sandiaga Uno has admitted to providing funds as dowry to PAN and PKS of Rp.500 billion each which will be used to finance the campaign. However, if the funds are given for the campaign, why is it only addressed to PAN and PKS?
This has indicated that there are transactional political practices. For this reason, the KPK and the election administrators must be strict and carry out checks on the flow of funds to investigate whether violations occur. Because the giving of political dowry is not clearly a violation of the rules for the implementation of elections. Moreover, the Gerindra Party was caught in a number of cases of political dowry during the last regional election. As is known, also Wasekjen Democrat Party Andi Arief revealed that Sandiaga had distributed dowry to PKS and PAN for Rp. 500 billion so that the total becomes Rp 1 trillion. At that time, PAN denied having received money from Sandiaga. According to Andi, the mah was suspected as a lubricant so that Sandi could become a vice president of Prabowo Subianto.
Meanwhile, the performance of the shares of PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya Tbk ( SRTG) tended to strengthen after Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno advanced as a vice presidential candidate accompanying Prabowo Subianto. Based on data from the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on August 8, 2018 it was at the level of Rp 3,680 at the close of trading on Wednesday (08/08/2018). On the next day, Thursday (9/8) at the level of Rp 3,710 and at the end of the week (Friday, 10/8) SRTG’s share price is at the level of Rp3,790. Sandiaga is one of the founders of the Saratoga Group. Based on the report on share ownership of PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya Tbk, which was published on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, he owned 754,115,429 shares or equivalent to 27,797 percent of the outstanding shares. The registration was one of the economic political steps of Sandiaga Uno to strengthen its shares by using the vice presidential label.
In other words, we can all see that Sandiaga Uno has now carried out transactional politics by looking at money as everything. So that causes politicians to think practically and simplify all goals to fulfill the ambition to rule. Transactional politics can indeed smooth the ambition of politicians to occupy the various positions they want . But that can lead to the poor moral quality of the politicians themselves, because they think that capitalizing on large sums of money can smooth their political careers.
*) The author is a FISIP Student of Mulawarman University
