Wednesday, 19 February 2014 | 03:09 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Teguh Dartanto, UI Lecturer and Researcher
The drums for the 2014 election campaign have been beating. Candidates for legislative members of the DPR/DPRD/DPD are competing to beautify themselves, spread sympathy and promises, prepare strategies and ammunition, and try to cover up their shortcomings to pave the way to becoming honorable members of the Council in this country. How much political sacrifice/investment makes sense to become a council member always leaves a big question mark.
A rational legislative candidate will only make political sacrifices/investments commensurate with what he will get when sitting comfortably as a member of the Council. Let us examine how much income being a member of the DPR and DPRD in Indonesia earns. Based on a report from the Secretariat General of the DPR, the take-home pay for DPR members is IDR 1.075.493.600 per year, which consists of monthly receipts of IDR 53.273.866, the 13th salary, and recess funds of IDR 420 million per year. Thus, within a period of five years, the expected income (expected income) from becoming a member of the DPR is IDR 5,4 billion. Meanwhile, the take-home pay for provincial DPRD members is IDR 357.430.000 per year, which consists of monthly receipts of IDR 24.736.750, 13th salary, and recess funds of IDR 48 million per year. In a five year period, the income from being a member of the provincial DPRD is IDR 1,8 billion.
It is very natural that many people are vying to become members of the DPR, because there are not many jobs that offer an income of more than IDR 1 billion per year. With the income expectations as above, it is very natural for a DPR legislative candidate to spend political investment (campaign funds) amounting to IDR 1-2 billion for campaign costs in the 2014 elections. If we add non-economic factors such as power, social status and respect, as well as unofficial income, it would be very natural for legislative candidates to spend campaign costs of IDR 2-4 billion because the expected income far exceeds the cost of political investment.
LPEM FEUI (2014) using classical investment theory tries to calculate optimal and reasonable political investment costs (campaign funds) for DPR, DPRD and DPD legislative candidates for each province in Indonesia. In general, the calculation of political investment costs is the product of the chance of being elected as a member of the Council and the expected value of income as a member of the Council. A rational member of the legislature will calculate the possibility/chance of being elected as a member of the Council in spending campaign funds. If they feel they have a great chance of being elected, they will allocate large funds for political investment (campaign funds). By comparing the number of seats in each electoral district with the number of legislative candidates, the chance of being elected as a member of the DPR is 8,21 percent. Meanwhile, the chance of being elected as a member of the DPRD is 8,99 percent, and becoming a member of the DPD is 14,21 percent. Based on data on expected income from being a member of the Council and opportunities for election, the optimal 2014 political investment fund (campaign fund) for DPR candidates is IDR 393,84 million, and for provincial DPRD candidates IDR 160,4 million. The political investment costs for the 2014 Election for each province varied greatly, with the most expensive political investments for DPR candidates being in the Riau Islands and Papua. If we include non-economic factors, such as power, social status and respect in the calculations, the optimal political investment fund for the 2014 Election is around IDR 712-852 million per DPR candidate and IDR 199-287 million per provincial DPRD candidate.
It is common knowledge that the unofficial income of Council members is much greater than their official income. If we include unofficial income in the calculation, the optimal cost of political investment/campaign funds in the 2014 elections for DPR candidates is around IDR 1-1,23 billion, while for DPRD candidates it is around IDR 298-570 million.
The greater the legislative candidate's expectations of unofficial income, the greater the investment in campaign funds disbursed. By considering official income, non-economic value, as well as unofficial income which is reasonable and does not violate the law, the optimal/reasonable cost of political investment/campaign funds for the 2014 Election is IDR 750 million-IDR 1 billion per DPR candidate and IDR 250-500 million per provincial DPRD candidate. Political investment of this figure does not guarantee that legislative candidates will be elected. But, if it is less than that number, the chances of being selected are very small.
Unscrupulous legislative candidates, when elected, have a tendency to return campaign capital through corrupt methods that damage conscience and violate the law. Therefore, one day there will need to be regulations limiting campaign funds for legislative candidates, so that elections will be healthier, not transactional, and provide ample opportunities for legislative candidates to capitalize on ideas.
http://www.tempo.co/read/kolom/2014/02/19/1134/Biaya-Investasi-Politik-2014