It is very important for all elements of society in Indonesia to be able to continue to improvetheir self-awareness regarding the practice of money politics, especially during the upcoming 2024 General Election (Election) party.
Money politics is one of the serious threats to the 2024 simultaneous elections. There are even findings which state that the practice of money politics is now no longer only happening between election participants and voters, but also reaching the election organizers.
Therefore, it is very important to be able to take preventive measures, take action and also impose sanctions on any election participants who have been proven to practice money politics.
Another challenge for the 2024 election is that people have taken money politics as normal. Citing the results of a survey from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) in 2019, as many as 48% of people think that money politics is commonplace.
When it turns out that the people themselves have started to think that it is normal to practice money politics as in the survey, it becomes a big challenge for all stakeholders in the country. This is about how to make clear regulations to guarantee democratic elections, which also concerns how to prosecute and sanction the perpetrators of money politics.
The definition of money politics according to Law Number 10 of 2016 article 187A paragraph (1) which reads “Anyone who intentionally commits an unlawful act promises or gives money or other materials to Indonesian citizens either directly or indirectly to influence voters to does not use the right to vote, uses the right to vote in a certain way so that the votes become invalid, chooses a certain candidate, or does not vote for a certain candidate as referred to in Article 73 paragraph (4) shall be punished with imprisonment for a minimum of 36 (thirty six) months and a maximum 72 (seventy two) months and a fine of at least IDR 200,000,000.00 (two hundred million rupiah) and a maximum of IDR 1,000,000,000.00 (one billion rupiah)”.
With the strictness in the Law (UU) which regulates the sanctions for election participants who carry out the practice of money politics, the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) argues that election participants are absolutely not allowed to carry out the campaign, the main thing is to explain and also during the holy month of Ramadan.
Not without reason, because according to Bawaslu Member Lolly Suhenty, matters concerning worship and good deeds, in no way should be mixed up with matters concerning politics and also election activities.
According to him, Bawaslu does not prohibit good deeds such as giving charity at all , but what Bawaslu prohibits is the practice of money politics , especially during the campaign or quiet periods. He argued that Bawaslu prohibits something that is also prohibited in Law (UU) Number 7 of 2017, namely election participants who promise to provide money or other materials.
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.
The Bawaslu has also collaborated with the Financial Services Authority (OJK) to conduct early detection of whether there is indeed a potential for money politics to be committed by election participants.
If indeed the results of the investigation prove that there were election participants who violated it, of course they will be immediately dealt with according to the procedures set by Perbawaslu. Meanwhile, according to the Chairman of the Alliance of Caring for Democracy. Ahmad Nur that so far there are still many issues regarding elections, including money politics in Indonesia.
For this reason, according to him, the existence of awareness from the community itself is very important. The public must be able to understand that when there are election participants or prospective leaders who commit acts of money politics, then they will also tend to commit other frauds when they take office. Therefore, political education for the community is also very important to be able to make the public continue to be aware of the practice of money politics.
During the upcoming 2024 General Election (Election) democratic party, it is indeed very important for all elements of society to continue to increase their awareness of how money politics practices are taking place. This is because they are voters who can greatly determine the fate of the nation in the future, and what kind of people this nation will lead.
)* The author is a contributor to the Main Sadawira Institute
