TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, said that the number of regional heads who are involved in corruption continue to increase. "From our data, there are 330 regional heads involved in corruption, or around 86.22 percent," said Gamawan on Wednesday, July 23, 2014. He said that one of the main cause of the corruption is the weak electoral system.
The current regional head election (Pilkada) system is too expensive, causing regional chiefs to exploit their authorities for personal gains. The government is currently on the process of finding solutions that will stop this systematic corruption. "We are disappointed, but that is not enough. We will find a solution to stop [the corruption] from happening again." Gamawan said.
Djohermansyah Djohan, director of regional autonomy at the Home Affairs Ministry, said that one of the solution that have been prepared is revising the Regional Chief Election Law, which is currently being discussed by members of the House of Representatives (DPR). One of the crucial points in the discussion is the simplification of the Pilkada to reduce costs.
The Home Affairs Ministry proposed that regional heads should be election by the Regional Legislative Council (DPRD). However, the proposal has been rejected by some commission members in the DPR, causing the Ministry to formulate a final solution, which is conducting a simultaneous election.
IRA GUSLINA SUFA
