Sustainability of Relationship between Business and Political Actors in Local Government Election

Abstract

Abstract-One component of a candidate's spending that caused high cost in direct election was the practice of money politics. In this context, the candidate's access to financial resources becomes essential. Political funding was needed in large numbers, creating spaces for the businessmen to become political investors for economic gain. The purpose of this study was to analyze the involvement of businessmen as investors at regency level. The research site was in Demak Regency of Central Java. The defeat of incumbents in Demak not be separated from political movements made by businessmen as the investors. The study used qualitative descriptive approach. Data were collected with in-depth interviews to 6 intentionally selected informants (purposive sampling), supported by secondary data from relevant documents. Data were analyzed using qualitative analysis. The result showed that there was a corruptive relationship between businessmen and the rulers, in which the businessmen became political investors and after election they could rearrange local government's project budget. The study also found that there was a sustainability of relationship between business and political actors from the previous elections . This research suggested to reduce the role of political investors and political spending of the candidate for money politics by theimplementation of effective regulations.

Jumping over Fences: Story from Demak Local Election

“…He is an investor in the Regional Head Election, including the investor in the Regional Head Election outside Demak Regency, and Eisti'anah is his daughter. Traces of Halim can be found in all local elections in Demak Regency [16]. The formation of a large coalition carrying Eisti'anah could not be separated from Halim's significant role.…”