T

he contenders of the Jakarta gubernatorial race finally got what they wanted: a higher campaign finance ceiling, which is crucial in allowing them to take and spend more money for their campaigns.

Budget watchdogs, however, have cast doubt over the higher ceiling’s ability to make candidates more transparent in regard to their finances.

After weeks of deliberation with campaign team members, the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) finally set the campaign finance limit at Rp 203 billion (US$15.4 million), a more than 100 percent increase from its initial proposal of Rp 93 billion.

The candidates claimed they would be transparent with the sources of their campaign funds and that not a single penny would go unreported to the KPU.

The Agus Harimurti-Sylviana Murni pair said they had been relying on volunteers and a coalition of political parties that supported them to fund their campaign.

They claimed that they distributed an official bank account number to volunteers and political parties to raise election funds.

Nachrowi Ramli, chairman of the Agus-Sylviana campaign team, told The Jakarta Post that he agreed with the KPU’s decision, saying that Rp 203 billion would be more than enough to run an effective campaign.

But as of last Thursday, or about two weeks after the campaign period started on Oct. 28, the pair had only collected Rp 50 million from volunteers and political parties. When they registered their candidacy, the pair deposited Rp 5 million into their official bank account.

Nachrowi claimed the money was enough to finance Agus’ campaign as the campaign team also received donations in the form of campaign merchandise like banners and T-shirts. “And please remember that when Agus and Sylviana made visits during the campaign, it was because they were invited. So they are not required to spend a lot of money,” Nachrowi said.

Sandiaga Uno, deputy governor candidate for Anies Baswedan, said most of his campaign funds would come from his “own pocket”. The Anies-Sandi pair deposited Rp 407 million when they opened their official bank account.

The recent economic condition, he said, prompted a lot of people and companies that had supported him to call off their donation pledges.

He added that his campaign team had been holding various social activities to raise funds.

“But what do you expect, this condition makes all of us struggle to raise money,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama initiated a public fund raising program to run his day-to-day campaign. The program allows anyone to donate from as low as Rp 10,000 to Rp 75 million for individual donations or Rp 750 million for corporate donations as regulated by the KPU. The pair had Rp 207 million in their bank account when they registered at the KPU.

Ahok said he and his running mate, Djarot Saiful Hidayat, had vowed to conduct transparent and accountable fund raising activities.

Ucok Sky Khadafi of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) said the weak implementation of the campaign finance regulation alongside financial pressure on the candidates could lead to them resorting to illicit practices to raise money.

Based on KPU regulation No. 8/2015, candidates are required to submit their campaign funds and expenses to the commission before having it audited by an independent accountant. However, the audit mechanism is far from rigorous.

“The commission and auditors only see the figures submitted by the candidates as it is and do not examine to see if the numbers are realistic, nor do they fact-check the companies to see if the donations they made really exist,” Ucok said.