The Viral Video of the Regent of Jember says it takes billions of rupiah to get recommendations for political parties

JEMBER, KOMPAS.com – A video of the Regent Jember Faida, who said that it took billions of rupiah to get recommendations from political parties to advance in the 2020 simultaneous regional elections, went viral on instant messaging applications WhatsApp.

“In the regional elections, just looking for recommendations requires billions of money, while everyone knows the regent’s salary, on average, is Rp. 6 million, if there are incentives and others,” Faida said as quoted from the video.

Faida said that such a large fee made it difficult for a regional head to become an upright leader.

“At a cost of tens of billions, I make sure it is difficult to become an upright leader, if you start the election candidacy in a dishonorable way, buy a chance,” said Faida.

That statement was conveyed by Faida when he was a speaker at a webinar held by the social-political research institute Cakra Wikara Indonesia on August 25, 2020.

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The public discussion had the theme of women as regional heads: Leadership patterns and policies.

Other speakers in the webinar were the Regent of Karawang Cellica Nurraachdiana and the Mayor of Batu Dewanti Rumpoko and FISIP UI lecturer Nur Iman Subono.

When confirmed, Faida admitted that she did not intend to offend anyone with that statement.

“I conveyed this not to offend anyone, but as a personal experience,” said Faida after registering for regional head candidates at the Jember KPU, Sunday (6/9/2020).

According to him, the statement was a personal experience and perspective to strive to be an upright leader.

“That is purely my personal view, people can agree and criticize,” he said.

Strong political party response

Faida’s statement received strong responses from political parties in Jember. This is because Faida was promoted by a number of political parties while advancing in the 2015 Pilkada.

Faida, who was accompanied by Abdul Muqit Arief at that time, was promoted by the PDI-Perjuangan, Nasdem, and Hanura.

“In 2015, Faida came to the office to register as a candidate for district head,” said Tabroni, the former head of the PDI-P DPC who brought Faida-Muqiet in the 2015 Pilkada, at the PDI-P DPC Jember, Sunday night.

At that time, PDI-P received the registration of Faida paired with Muqit. It followed the qualification and suitability test at DPD PDI-P East Java and DPP PDI-P.

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“In the process, Faida did not issue a single rupiah in order for the recommendation to go down to him,” said Tabroni.

Tabroni assessed that Faida was lying to the public. Because, when she got the recommendation, Faida directly stated in the PDI-P Rakercabsus activity that there was no dowry.

“If he said he needed billions of money, we PDI-P in 2015 issued a recommendation without a dowry of even one rupiah,” explained this member of the DPRD.

According to Tabroni, DPRD members in Jember and East Java have actually provided financial assistance to support Faida’s campaign.

In fact, DPP PDI-P also provided funds to DPC PDI-P Jember to win the Faida-Muqit pair.

Tabroni considered Faida’s statement not in accordance with reality. For that, he asked that the accusation be proven.

“Show us, to whom he spent the money,” he said.

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Chairman of the DPD Nasdem Jember Marzuki also conveyed the same thing. He emphasized that Faida’s statement that spent money to get a recommendation was not true.

Faida, he said, also stated that there was no dowry in his candidacy in 2015.

“In 2015 in Faida’s statement, there was Nasdem and PDIP without dowry,” said Marzuki at the KPU Jember, Friday (4/9/2020).

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