CIDISS. The government elected direct elections as an effort to seek candidates for regional heads in an attempt to fulfill democratic orders. However, due to some considerations, direct elections were then made into direct elections simultaneously in several regions.
In the near future, Indonesia will face a simultaneous Pilkada to be held followed by 171 regions. The prediction of the level of vulnerability in elections in 2018 is very high, it is caused by the number of voters and the budget that will rotate in elections in 2018 reached the highest record in the history of regional election in Indonesia.
The total budget for 2014 election for 171 potentially translucent areas of Rp20 trillion. Currently, the total budget is only Rp15, 2 trillion. The details of the KPU budget amounted to Rp11.9 trillion, the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) Rp2.9 trillion and the TNI-Polri security amounting to Rp339.6 billion.
In contrast, the amount of money spun in the 2015 election followed by 269 regions reached Rp6.4 trillion. That does not include the rest of the budget. The amount is not only KPU, but from all institutions related to the implementation of elections in 2015 and candidates. While in the 2017 election followed by 101 regions, the revolving money is only about Rp4.3 trillion, excluding the remaining budget.
Although the level of vulnerability in the operation is fairly high, but the government has prepared preventive measures to minimize the vulnerability of conflicts that may occur.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has agreed to cooperate with Bawaslu to deal with the possibility of corruption, the TNI and the Police have also stated their commitment to safeguard and oversee the implementation of elections in conjunction with 2018.
Despite the government’s readiness, it is also necessary for the participation of the community to succeed in the 2018 election. For example, it is to report money politics conducted by candidates for regional heads or other matters that will undermine democracy parties in elections in 2018 simultaneously.
By: Mirwan Achmad*)
