Jakarta — The Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) revealed that election contestants may not carry out covert campaigns, especially before and during the month of Ramadan. This is because between worship and also something related to politics and elections should not be mixed up at all.
“What Election participants are not allowed to (do) for Bawaslu is to mix up acts of piety, kindness and covert campaigns, that’s what is not allowed,” said Bawaslu member Lolly Suhenty.
Furthermore, according to Lolly, Bawaslu actually does not prohibit baok acts such as giving alms.
However, Bawaslu strictly prohibits money politics, especially during the campaign period or the quiet period.
“What Bawaslu prohibits are those prohibited by Law 7 (year) 2017, for example promising to give money or other materials, whether during the campaign period, counting period or during the quiet period,” he said.
Because it has been regulated in the law, the Bawaslu prohibits the practice of money politics, especially when there is a mode of religious activity during the month of Ramadan.
In fact, to be able to take precautions, Lolly stated that the Bawaslu team is collaborating with other institutions to be able to detect how money moves during the 2024 election.
“For example with OJK, cooperation is built to be able to detect (potential money politics),” said Lolly.
If the results of the investigation show that the Election participants are indeed proven to have committed money politics, then of course they will be immediately prosecuted.
“If it is proven, of course we will proceed according to the procedures regulated by Perbawaslu,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Alliance for Democracy Cares has also made efforts to anticipate and be aware of money politics. Chairman of the Alliance of Concern for Democracy, Ahmad Nur, said that so far there are still many problems in the implementation of elections, including money politics.
“The implementation of democratic parties has caused many problems in various regions, the phenomenon of money politics has colored various election events in the country. This illustrates that most people are used to the practice of money politics,” he said.
According to him, awareness from the community itself is very important. The public must understand that when a prospective leader commits money politics, he tends to commit other frauds.
“Therefore, intelligence is needed in selecting prospective leaders with the understanding that candidates who practice money politics will tend to become corrupt leaders,” said Ahmad Nur.
Thus, political education for the community is very important to be aware of the practice of money politics.
Ahmad Nur also added that the community itself must play an active role in monitoring and supervising the election process.
“For this reason, it is necessary to provide political education for the public so that they are aware of the practice of money politics around them and can play an active role in monitoring and supervising the election implementation process,” he said.
Apart from that, he argued that the role of Bawaslu itself is also very important as an election monitoring institution and they must strictly act against the practice of money politics.
