Vote-Buying in the 2024 Elections: How Many Billions Does a Candidate Spend?
By Tempo Magazine, 7 April, 2024
EVERY TIME general elections, or the 2024 general election, is mentioned, Mr. Ario Bimo Nandito Ariotedjo shakes his head. The 33-year-old Minister of Youth and Sports in the government of Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo admitted from the start that he was hesitant to become a legislative candidate in the Jakarta Capital District I electoral district. “It’s expensive,” said Dito Ariotedjo, speaking with Tempo magazine at his office on Tuesday, February 26, 2024.
This Golkar Party politician admitted to pouring around Rp15 billion into campaign costs. He spent this money on financing his campaign team, creating campaign materials, and funding meals and transportation for prospective voters attending campaign events. For meals and transportation, Dito claimed to have spent around Rp150,000 per person.
Notwithstanding a fantastic campaign fund and his status as a minister, Dito failed to become a member of the House of Representatives. Positioned at the top of the ballot list, Dito only achieved 55,560 votes in the area the Jakarta I electorate that covers East Jakarta. Meanwhile, his Golkar Party only managed to secure 111,000 votes there.
Internal surveys predicted the Golkar Party would receive 300,000 votes in Jakarta I. Dito’s number of voters was predicted to be more than 60,000. Two candidates below Dito, namely Ms. Danty Indriastuti Purnamasari, the granddaughter of Ms. Siti Hardijanti (aka Tutut) Soeharto, and actress Wanda Hamidah, were predicted to each receive 20,000 votes. But both only received less than 11,000 votes.
One day before polling day, Dito admitted to receiving reports from his team that there were several legislative candidates distributing Rp150 to 300,000 at voters’ homes. Later, Dito received information that some candidates prepared money for so-called “dawn raids” amounting to tens of billion of rupiahs. “It turns out that the real battle happened at the end,” said Dito.
Dito’s campaign team had asked him to participate in distributing envelopes. But he claimed he refused as he felt his movements as a minister were being scrutinized. Dito assessed that the competition in East Jakarta—known as a “hell constituency”—was very tight. He faced several incumbents, such as Mr. Mardani Ali Sera from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Mr. Habiburokhman from the Gerindra Party, and Mr. Putra Nababan from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
With such famous names and a campaign fund defeat, Dito, who was expected to be a vote draw-card, faltered. “From the beginning, I was sure I wouldn’t make it,” he said. The son of mining magnate Mr. Arie Prabowo Ariotedjo admitted to still running as a legislative candidate as a gesture of gratitude to the Golkar Party for making him a minister.
Another candidate, Mr. Masinton Pasaribu, also fell in the Jakarta II electoral district covering Central and South Jakarta, and overseas. Running at ballot position number seven, Mr. Masinton failed to replicate the success of the two previous elections that had carried him to Indonesia’s House of Representatives.
Masinton’s name briefly went viral on social media platform X during the campaign period. Social media pundits discussed him because his campaign billboards were scattered along the roads in Central and South Jakarta. Because of the abundance of billboards belonging to the House Finance Commission member, an anecdote emerged that “there are no South Jakarta kids—who are colloquially known as cool kids—who don’t know Masinton.”
Masinton admitted to splurging on campaign paraphernalia. Speaking to Tempo magazine, he confessed to printing tens of thousands of billboards. To make billboards, calendars, and stickers, he spent Rp6 billion from his personal funds. “That’s my savings from being a House member,” said Masinton at the House building in the Jakarta district of Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday, March 26, 2024.
Despite his already popular name, Mr. Masinton felt the need to introduce himself to millennial and Gen Z voters through billboards featuring his face. “So that Jakarta residents know me,” said Masinton. More than 50 percent of voters come from the millennial and Gen Z demographics.
Masinton also claimed to have always made an effort to take care of his constituents. In the last four years, or since the Covid-19 pandemic began, he has regularly distributed food packages every few months. Each time he goes shopping, Masinton can spend Rp200 to 250 million.
Despite putting up billboards and distributing aid packages, Masinton lost. The former Chair of the Democracy Struggle Volunteers movement received about 50,000 votes. He lost to his PDI-P party colleague, Mr. Once Mekel. The former vocalist of the band Dewa garnered nearly 60,000 votes.
Speaking with a less than happy expression, Masinton was almost incredulous that he had failed. In late January 2024, Masinton monitored the survey results of five polling organizations. The results indicated that his vote count was the highest compared to his party colleagues, or other party candidates. The estimated vote count for Masinton was 100,000, not very different from his tally in the 2019 legislative poll.
In that electoral district, PDI-P also calculated that it could hand onto two House seats. However, the voting results showed that the party with the bull logo had only obtained one seat. Masinton, along with incumbent candidate Mr. Eriko Sotarduga and Jakarta provincial legislature speaker Mr. Prasetyo Edi Marsudi, had been ousted from ranks of the victorious.
Mr. Masinton suspected there were several factors that caused his vote count and that of PDI-P to drop. One was an effort to undermine votes. “I received various reports that there were people encouraging citizens not to vote for PDI-P and me,” said Masinton.
He admitted to being visited by law enforcement officials more than once. They had reminded him not to criticize President Joko Widodo and his family too harshly. Since the President’s son, Mr. Gibran Rakabuming Raka, was endorses as the vice-presidential running mate of Gerindra Party-endorsed presidential candidate Mr. Prabowo Subianto, Masinton had frequently attacked the so-called “Jokowi dynasty”. He had coined the nickname “Samsul” for Mr. Gibran, who in a public gaff had referred to folic acid as sulfuric acid.
PDI-P Secretary General Mr. Hasto Kristiyanto also claimed that several of his party’s legislative candidates were harassed for supporting the PDI-P endorsed candidates Mr. Ganjar Pranowo and his running mate Prof. Mahfud MD. “Our candidates were pruned, not only in Jakarta, but also in other regions,” said Mr. Hasto in Central Jakarta, on Thursday, March 21, 2024. In each of Jakarta’s electoral districts, PDI-P’s House seats have dropped by one.
Mr. Masinton Pasaribu admitted to having to face the issue of political bribery. He had received reports from his campaign team that envelopes from other legislative candidates for residents in Central Jakarta and South Jakarta were circulating three days before the election day. The amounts ranged from Rp150 to 250,000, significantly higher than what he had faced in the 2019 legislative election, which was only from Rp50 to 100,000.
Masinton’s party colleague, Mr. Djarot Saiful Hidayat, had a similar experience. The legislative candidate from the North Sumatra III electoral district, covering ten districts/cities, failed to secure a seat in the House of Representatives. Four days after the election, quick count results showed Mr. Djarot’s vote tally stagnating at 54,000, half of the vote he received in the 2019 general election.
Djarot analyzed the vote count with his campaign team and found that there was a migration of votes from his supporters to candidates from other parties that had endorsed Messrs. Prabowo and Gibran. For instance, in Batu Bara Regency in North Sumatra, Djarot claimed there had been significant decrease in his vote count as compared to internal surveys. “My votes and those of PDIP disappeared there,” said Djarot on Thursday, March 28, 2024.
Five days before election day, on February 9, 2024, President Joko Widodo went on a campaign trip to Batu Bara Regency distributing food packages referred to as government “social (welfare) assistance”. Djarot attributed the number of his voters dwindling to the President’s visit. He also accused several legislative candidates of engaging in vote-buying, either with cash or goods. “This was a barbaric election, vote-buying was rampant.”…
After campaigning for about four months, from November 2023 to February 2024, Mr. Rian Ernest Tanudjaja claimed to have reached 11,000 people. For three and a half hours each day, he visited voters’ homes on his electric motorcycle. He did this five days a week.
The Golkar Party politician handed out business cards while communicating his vision and mission. He didn’t make grand promises, but only said that he would be a communication bridge with the Jakarta government. “I went around the electoral district from 2:30 to 6:00 p.m. because I have to work at the office first,” said the former aide to former Jakarta Governor Mr. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.
Mr. Rian didn’t work alone. He was helped by a dozen volunteers to reach homes he couldn’t visit. Speaking to Tempo magazine at Blok M, South Jakarta, on March 28, 2024, he presented his financial report, showing a figure of Rp2.5 billion. He also presented the report to his campaign fund donors, who were business people and former colleagues from the legal profession.
Rian also wrote in detail his expenses. He wrote an operational fund of IDR 1.5 billion to cover meetings with the community and pay his volunteers. The rest is for printing campaign props.
With that amount of funds, Rian still failed to become a Jakarta legislator. He received 10,900 votes, missing his target of 15 thousand votes. In the 2019 General Election, the former Indonesian Solidarity Party legislative candidate received more than 25 thousand votes.
As polite as other legislative candidates, Rian expected to be defeated by his rivals at the last corner. As voting day approached, Rian received information that a number of legislative candidates had disbursed IDR 5-6 billion for the dawn attack. His seniors at Golkar once offered him money to bomb voters. But, after pondering all night, Rian refused.
***
In East Java, Ms. Eva Kusuma Sundari was confused in how to face voters in the 2024 general election. A number of residents in the East Java VIII electoral district contacted Ms. Eva and her campaign volunteers and asked for an “introduction”, aka money. “They said other legislative candidates had already given them envelopes,” said the National Democrat (NasDem) Party politician when contacted by Tempo magazine on Sunday, March 31 2024.
The former two-term PDI-P House Representative is reluctant to engage in money politics. She recruited a number of local women activists to help with the campaign. In August 2023, Ms. Eva also formed a network with organizers from various non-governmental organizations who reached out to specific groups of voters from workers’ backgrounds to housewives.
Eva also initiated programs for skill development and training and advocated for factory workers. Her volunteers distributed calendars and glasses featuring Eva’s photo to residents while mapping out voters. Instead of paying them wages, Eva paid her volunteers Rp2,000 for each house visited.
Observing internal surveys from the NasDem Party and data from independent polling organizations, Eva saw her popularity rating trend flattening out a month before election day. However, a few days before polling day, her situation changed drastically. Political bribery from other legislative candidates caused her registered voters to shift allegiance.
Members of Eva’s campaign team then said farewell one by one, as they saw no hope of winning. According to the national general elections commission’s vote count, Eva’s vote count did not exceed more than several thousand votes. “Votes can be magically conjured up in a night.”
Legislative candidate from the National Awakening Party (PKB), Mr. Luqman Hakim, also found discrepancies between pre-election day polling results and what actually happened on election day. Up until two weeks before election day, Mr. Luqman, who ran in the Central Java VI electoral district, was polling as the candidate with the highest popularity rating in his party. He collaborated with the Alvara Research Center.
In his electoral district, Mr. Luqman already had a mass base. The incumbent candidate conducted numerous grass-roots campaign activities in his electoral district, which includes the districts of Magelang Regency, Temanggung, Purworejo, Wonosobo, and Magelang City. However, on election day, he lost to his party colleague, a relative of National Awaken Party Chair and vice-presidential candidate Mr. Muhaimin Iskandar.
Mr. Luqman claimed that his vote count plummeted because of a logistical defeat. He admitted to only preparing Rp4 billion for the campaign, not much different from the 2019 election. He used this money to cover the expenses of people attending campaign events and to produce campaign materials. “There are candidates of other parties who claimed to have spent tens of billions of rupiah,” said Mr. Luqman.
***
Obtaining a large number of votes is not a guarantee of being sworn in as a member of Indonesia’s House of Representatives. Take one legislative candidate from the United Development Party (PPP), Mr. Achmad Baidowi, for example. With a vote count of nearly 360,000, the third largest nationally, he almost certainly failed to make it into the House because the United Development Party only received 3.87 percent of the national vote, failing to make the legislated minimum electoral threshold for election to the House of Representatives of four percent.
Baidowi competed in the East Java XI electoral district. Many people refer to this area as a red zone for the election district covering Madura Island. “Madura is a ‘hellish electoral district.’ To the point where every network needed to be utilized to harvest votes,” said Baidowi when contacted by phone on Thursday, March 28, 2024.
One of the factors that caused the PPP’s vote count in Madura to collapse was the coalition the party joined for the presidential election. Together with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), PPP joined the collation that endorsed presidential candidate Mr. Ganjar Pranowo (originally from PDI-P) and his running mate Prof. Mahfud MD. Although Mahfud was born in Sampang on Madura Island, Ganjar and Mahfud’s vote was the lowest in Madura Island, below that of the ultimately successful Gen. (Hon.) Prabowo Subianto and Mr. Gibran Rakabuming Raka and that of Mr. Anies Baswedan and Mr. Muhaimin Iskandar.
Acting Chair of PPP, Mr. Muhamad Mardiono, also admitted that the presidential candidate endorses by their party influenced people’s choices. “Nevertheless, PPP remains solid in its support of candidates supported together with PDI-P,” said Mr. Mardiono at his home in the Permata Hijau district of Jakarta on Thursday, March 28, 2024.
To obtain 359,000 votes, Baidowi admitted to spending around Rp3 billion to print T-shirts and billboards and to hold campaign events. The expenses he incurred were twice as much as in the 2019 election. “Because the amount of campaign material and the number of events was larger for this legislative election,” said Baidowi.
Mr. Muhammad Zainul Majdi, also known as Tuan Guru Bajang, received 180,0000 votes in the West Nusa Tenggara II electoral district that covers Lombok and Sumbawa Islands. But he still won’t make it to the House, because his party’s national vote, the United Indonesia Party, or Perindo, came in nationally at below 2 percent of the vote.
“I am considering filing a lawsuit so that candidates like me and Baidowi with high vote counts can still be elected, and our votes are not wasted,” said the former Governor of West Nusa Tenggara province in a phone interview with Tempo magazine on Tuesday, March 26, 2024.
Tuan Guru Bajang targeted a constituency of 67 million micro, small, and medium-sized business people throughout Indonesia. The United Indonesia Party also provided facilities such as carts for street vendors. Two Perindo politicians mentioned that during the campaign, Mr. Hary Tanoesoedibjo’s party had poured hundreds of billions of rupiah into the campaign.
Like the United Development Party (PPP), Perindo also endorsed the Ganjar-Mahfud ticket in the 2024 presidential race. However, both parties did not receive the expected coattail effect from their preferred presidential candidates.
***
In crafting his dissertation in 2013, Mr. Pramono Anung touched on the high cost of politics to become a member of the House of Representatives. The PDI-P politician pointed out that the amount needed to run for office as a legislative candidate was Rp500 to 800 million in the 2004 election. Within a decade later, Mr. Pramono, now the government’s Cabinet Secretary, estimated that the cost had doubled to Rp1.2 to 2 billion. In the 2024 election, the expenses can now run into tens of billions of rupiah.
The steep cost of vying for legislative office is acknowledged by candidates in legislative elections. National Democrat (NasDem) Party politician Ms. Eva Kusuma Sundari believes that the battle of ideas can no longer thrive in the current brutal elections due to the prevalence of political bribery. “Nowadays, it’s a reality that candidates buy votes, and voters choose those who hand out envelopes. It’s like supply meeting demand,” said Eva.
Ms. Eva called for a massive overhaul of the system for future legislative elections, for example, by re-evaluating both closed and open proportional representation systems.
Meanwhile, Mr. Luqman Hakim, a politician from the National Awakening Party (PKB), recommended an evaluation of law enforcement measures against those who breach the election rules. One such rule is the violation of political bribery. “If these recommendations are implemented, whether the political system is open or closed, elections will be run more fairly,” said Mr. Luqman.
Mr. Rian Ernest, a millennial legislative candidate, is concerned that the high cost of running for elected legislative office in the 2024 legislative race will deter young people from considering entering politics and make them apolitical. The people who sit as elected representatives in the future will be those with wealth, resources, or popularity. “This climate will narrow the opportunities for the emergence of young politicians with integrity,” said Mr. Rian.
Francisca Christy Rosana, Hussein Abri Dongoran, Egi Adyatama, and Erwan Hermawan contributed to the writing of this article. In the print edition, the article was published under the title “One Magical Night of Conjuring Votes.”
This article is based on https://majalah.tempo.co/read/nasional/171240/politik-uang-pemilu-2024.
In related news:
Stories From Indonesia 
Leave a Reply