TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The three presidential campaign teams accuse one another of fraud ahead of the elections.

The general elections are still a month away, but allegations of violations and election fraud are rampant. Apart from the issue of money politics, there are allegations of the lack of neutrality of civil servants, members of the Indonesian Military, and National Police personnel, as well as the abuse of power to win one of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates: Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar (No. 01), Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka (02) and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md. (03).

The campaign teams of all three pairs claim to have found allegations of violations and election fraud by their rival camps. Sudirman Said, Deputy Chair of the Anies-Muhaimin campaign team, mentioned the existence of intimidation against their candidate. The forms of intimidation vary, from intimidation against campaign organizers in the regions, and attempts to cancel scheduled events, to election officials showing bias towards candidates supported by those in power.

However, Sudirman said, the primary problem in the coming elections is the use of power to win the campaign of pair number 02. “A huge turning point that we’ve been discussing is about the highest leader of the country who should set an example in managing the state, instead shows the opposite, changing laws for personal and family interests,” he told Tempo on January 10.

Deputy for Legal Affairs of the National Campaign Team for Ganjar-Mahfud, Todung Mulya Lubis, considers two significant issues in this election. First, the lack of neutrality of state apparatuses manifested in village heads and village officials directing their residents to vote for candidate number 02. Second, money politics, which can take the form of cash payments or distribution of basic food packages.

According to Mulya, in addition to the alleged lack of neutrality that occurred in many places, there are indications of election organizers lacking neutrality. “As we found many such cases, we can say that it is systematic and massive,” Mulya said to Tempo in two separate interview sessions on January 8 and 12.

Ridwan Kamil, Chairman of the West Java Regional Campaign Team for Prabowo-Gibran, also noted allegations of lack of neutrality or abuse of authority by other camps. He mentioned reports of staff from ministries coming to villages to provide assistance but with the condition of supporting specific candidate pairs.

Regarding President Joko Widodo’s support for Gibran, Ridwan said it was normal for a parent to support a child as long as it does not involve abusing his authority. He suggested that if there are findings like that, they should be reported to the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu). “Just report it to the Bawaslu,” he said to Tempo on January 16.

Sudirman Said, Deputy Chair, Anies-Muhaimin Campaign Team:

Jokowi openly shows his bias

What patterns of election violations did your team find?

It’s interesting to see an article with a huge title Government Officials Most Likely to Commit Fraud that described various incidents including a meeting between the president and a party leader, as well as the election process of regional heads without clear procedures and criteria. But the public has also begun to see that the tendency towards non-objectivity or partiality is increasingly visible by the day.

But a huge turning point that we’ve been discussing is the highest leader of the country, who should set an example in governing, instead showing the opposite, changing laws for personal and family interests. That is a ‘red flag’ indicating that something very serious is happening. So, whatever has happened lately is just an effect or a result of that significant event.

<!--more-->

As regards the partiality of the state apparatus, what stands out most?

The attitude of the President, his brother-in-law. For us, that is a fundamental aspect that has been damaged. Our constitution says, “By the grace of God Almighty and propelled by noble intentions to live as a free nation...” These are two sacred sentences. One is that we want God’s blessing, and secondly, we want to run the country based on noble intentions. My question is, who is most obliged to display these two things? Well, the head of the state. In reality, the head of the state denies both. What he displays is the desire for power that destroys the entire order.

Ridwan Kamil, Chair, Prabowo-Gibran West Java Regional Campaign Team:

We want to win honorably

During the press conference on January 12, the Prabowo-Gibran National Campaign Team highlighted potential election fraud allegedly committed by Anies and Ganjar, ranging from civil servants’ lack of neutrality to the campaign to attack Prabowo through the Achtung newspaper. What kind of data do you have on that?

I didn’t find any print version of it but it’s all over the social media. The point is that I’m not surprised because there is a group of people who want to win via a negative campaign or smear campaign. Smear campaign includes slander whereas in negative campaigning, (past) scandals are magnified. You can check with TKD (the regional campaign teams). Ours are happy politics, idea-based politics, and creative politics. Winning or losing is another matter.

Has the West Java TKD reported any alleged fraud by the 01 or 03 camps?

Yes. In West Java, a team from a certain ministry went to villages bringing aid packages. And the condition for the disbursement of the aid is the commitment to support one of the presidential candidates to win, but not the No. 2 pair. I heard about it and reported it to raise the alarm.

Todung Mulya Lubis, Deputy for Legal Affairs, Ganjar-Mahfud National Campaign Team:

Indication of more massive cheating

What are the findings about alleged fraud or partiality in the elections this time?

Firstly, the lack of neutrality among officials. This has been widely reported in the media and social media that officials, including village heads and village officials, are directing their residents to vote for candidate pair number 02.

How many have been identified?

We received the reports sporadically. These reports are quite worrying to us. Then, there was a statement from the deputy village minister that the deputy agrarian minister had also directed people to choose the 02 pair. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Well, that’s the pattern. I won’t be surprised if that happens in other places and not every case is reported to us. So, this pattern is our concern, as if it’s becoming some kind of policy executed by everyone.

Second, money politics. It takes many forms. They didn’t hand out cash only, but also rice packages, cooking oil, and some did receive cash in envelopes.

Read the Full Interview in Tempo English Magazine