Money Politics and Electoral Law Enforcement in Indonesia and Malaysia: A Comparative Analysis and Reform Agenda
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15294/lslr.v10i2.39543Keywords:
Money Politics, Elections, Democracy, Political CrimesAbstract
Money politics is one of the most dominant and recurring forms of election violations in elections in both Indonesia and Malaysia. Money politics damages democratic integrity, undermines fairness and honesty, and is exacerbated by weak law enforcement, procedural disparities between the National Police, and a transactional political culture in society. Departing from these problems, this paper analyses and examines criminal law policies related to money politics crimes and evaluates the implementation of policy reforms, especially related to the disharmonization of investigation time norms between working days and calendar days, which has an impact on the effectiveness of the Integrated Law Enforcement Center in handling money politics cases. This study uses normative legal research methods, including legislative, conceptual, and normative approaches. The findings show that money politics remains rampant through cash giving, social assistance, and abuse of government programs, while differences in terminology during investigations cause many cases to stop at the research stage because formal-material requirements are not met. In addition, existing criminal sanctions have not deterred offenders because law enforcement is weak and evidence is hard to obtain. This paper recommends reformulating investigation timelines from calendar days to working days, strengthening coordination within the Integrated Law Enforcement Center, increasing transparency of political funds, and expanding public political education to strengthen election integrity and prevent more effective money-politics practices.
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