JAKARTA, suaramerdeka.com – Researcher for the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) Iqbal Kholidin assesses that the misuse of social assistance (bansos) from state budget sources (APBN / APBD) can fall into the category of money politics.
Moreover, if the distribution of basic necessities is then accompanied by a photo of the candidate pairs contesting the Pilkada.
“Sharing basic necessities using state facilities such as various kinds of social assistance sourced from the APBN / APBD can fall into the category of money politics during the election period. Moreover, sharing money such as aid, goods and others,” said Iqbal.
According to Iqbal, money politics is a problem that is never finished every democratic party in Indonesia.
The practice of bribing people’s choices becomes a classic problem in every democratic party event.
“There needs to be firm action from the election organizers, namely Bawaslu, to impose sanctions on candidates who are caught providing social assistance. People who see and know must also report this to Bawaslu,” said Iqbal.
Meanwhile, the food distribution action held by the Central Kalimantan Provincial Government (Pemprov Kalteng) has drawn attention.
The reason is, the food distribution action was carried out during the campaign period for the 2024 Central Kalimantan Governor Election, so it is considered prone to conflicts of interest.
Thousands of food packages were distributed by Governor Sugianto Sabran.
According to the governor, the action of distributing basic necessities packaged with a cheap market is to control inflation and maintain the stability of prices of basic necessities and even to prevent stunting.
“The price of basic needs often increases, so with this cheap market to keep prices stable and people have no difficulty getting basic necessities,” said the Governor.
The food packages distributed consisted of 10 kg of rice, 1 kg of sugar, and 1 liter of cooking oil with a value of Rp 198,500 per package.
Each recipient of the basic food package received a subsidy from the Central Kalimantan Provincial Government of Rp178,500 so that the community only “needs” to redeem Rp 20,000 per package.
While the shortage (Rp 20,000) was again subsidized by Governor Sugianto Sabran, so that people could get it for free.
For information, the older brother of the Governor of Central Kalimantan, Sugianto, namely Agustiar Sabran, is one of the participants in the Central Kalimantan Gubernatorial Election.
He paired up with the incumbent Central Kalimantan Deputy Governor, Edy Pratowo.
As for Sugianto Sabran, he cannot “run” because he has served as governor for two periods.
This article was published on Suaramerdeka.com with the title “Perludem Researcher Highlights the Distribution of Social Aid during the Campaign Period, Prone to Conflicts of Interest”, https://www.suaramerdeka.com/nasional/0413763652/peneliti-perludem-soroti-pembagian-bansos-di-masa-kampanye-rentan-konflik-kepentingan