Yogya (KU) – Following the re-election of incumbent and election of people with close ties to former regional heads in Yogyakarta, possible corruption practices need to be anticipated. That is so because the return to power of former chiefs or other people who have close connection to forner chiefs means that power network and business network are getting more protection.
"Monitoring of the running of local governments in the province is a must, because the incumbent has returned to power, considering that corruption is very close to power. The longer the power is held, the easier to corrupt," said the researcher of the Center for Anti Corruption Studies, Hifdzil Alim, Thursday (3/6).
The results of elections in each regencies are: the pair of Sri Purnomo -Yuni Satia Rahayu won 35.15% of the votes in Sleman, in Bantul the pair of Suryawati – Sumarno (67.7%) and in Gunung Kidul, Sumpeno Putro – Badingah pair won 36.03%. Sri Purnomo is Caretaker of Sleman Regency while Badingah and Sumarno currently serve as vice-regent. "Especially for the elected Ida Samawi, although she is not an incumbent, she is the wife of Idham Samawi, Regent of Bantul, who still heads the regency," he said.
Hifdzil added that in recent years, corruption has been decentralized and spread to the region. The holding of 246 elections this year is indicated to become an entry for corruption practices due to the high expenses of campaign to get elected. "It is especially the case for the incumbent who has the power and larger network than the other candidates," he concluded.