Public, media told to monitor funds used by political parties

Panca Nugraha and Arya Dipa, The Jakarta Post, Mataram/Bandung | Archipelago | Thu, September 12 2013, 8:46 AM 

“It should be clear that the funds are not exclusively within the private realm of political parties but are part of the public sphere,” NTB FITRA secretary-general Ervyn Kaffah said in a meeting with editors on Wednesday.


 The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) chapter of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) has urged the public and media to play an active role in overseeing funds being channeled by political parties.

FITRA deemed that funds managed by parties were often prone to misappropriation and irregularities, because they have so far not been transparent with the public in managing their funds, although part of the funds were from regional budgets; while information regarding the use of the funds should be transparent and accountable.


“It should be clear that the funds are not exclusively within the private realm of political parties but are part of the public sphere,” NTB FITRA secretary-general Ervyn Kaffah said in a meeting with editors on Wednesday.

He said that in mid-August, FITRA and other groups carried out a trial to access information from provincial executive boards of nine political parties at the NTB legislative council (DPRD).

The nine parties are the Golkar Party (10 seats), the Democratic Party (8 seats), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) with six seats, the Crescent Star Party (PBB) with five seats, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) with five seats, the United Development Party (PPP) with four seats, the National Mandate Party (PAN) with four seats, the People’s Conscience (Hanura) Party (three seats) and the Greater Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party (two seats).

NTB FITRA requested information on detailed financial statements for 2011 and 2012, program and activity reports for the last two years and their leadership structures.

“Only Hanura and PBB responded to our request,” Ervyn said.

As public institutions, he added, Law No. 14/2008 on Public Information and Law No. 2/2011 on Political Parties stipulates that political parties should provide public access to information within 10 days.

In Bandung, West Java, nine political parties at the West Java DPRD failed to respond to requests for information on their financial statements submitted by Garut Governance Watch (GGW).

“We have already submitted the request directly to the party secretariats since Aug. 20,” GGW secretary general Agus Rustandi said in Bandung on Tuesday.

He said the request for the information on the political parties’ financial reports was part of the implementation of the 2008 Public Information Law.

The law stipulates that every citizen or organization can request information on public entities or institutions receiving funds from the state or regional budgets.

“Law No. 2/2008 in conjunction with the 2011 Law on Political Parties stipulates that each political party must be open, transparent and accountable,” said Agus.

However, Agus claimed that GGW failed to get the information requested. The requests were sent to officials managing information and documentation.

”We are currently filing a complaint with the aforementioned officials because we never received a response,” said Agus.

Agus said GGW had requested the information from nine political parties, namely the PDIP, PPP, PKS, PAN, Golkar, Gerindra, Hanura and the National Awakening Party (PKB).

Meanwhile, Hanura said the party did not receive the request yet, while PDI-P welcomed GGW to get the information at its provincial secretariat.

sumber: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/09/12/public-media-told-monitor-funds-used-political-parties.html