In recent years, the phenomenon of botoh or betting practices has often shaken democracy during elections in Bumi Sukowati. Botoh, which is synonymous with gambling, seems to follow every election, including simultaneous village chief election or Pilkades, and Presidential Elections. The testimony of one Solopos.com source, BD, 42, said that botoh always plays in every election, even long before the election stage begins.
"Some time ago around September 2022, someone bet that Anies Baswedan would become a candidate for presidential candidate by one of the parties. The bet was worth a car worth hundreds of millions. The information was very loud, but I did not follow how the bet ended," he said, when talking with Solopos.com, Tuesday (5/15/2023).
Even so, BD said the botoh action was more intense during the Pilkades compared to the Legislative Elections (Pileg) or Presidential Elections (Pilpres). This is because the number of participants is larger, so botoh actors are reluctant to speculate. Meanwhile, during Pilkades, the maximum number of candidates competing is 5 candidates, so that botoh actors can sway the votes.
One of the village heads who admitted that the area where he was running had been shaken by botoh, DN, 30, said that the botoh phenomenon could damage democracy if voters were tempted by the nominal given by botoh perpetrators.
"Botoh is closely related to money politics, it could be that this perpetrator places a bet on pair A for a certain amount of money along with distributing money to voters, with the hope of winning the bet. If voters are smart, they will still vote according to the vision and mission of the candidate, but if they don't know, they will vote for the one who gives money," he said.
DN said that the value of bets in each Pilkades is not always up to hundreds of millions, but if the Pilkades takes place simultaneously, the value can reach billions of rupiah.
"The accumulation of everything, so if in one village it is at most Rp100 million, we can say, but if there are many villages, it will reach billions. If one village [is] worth hundreds of millions, well, I don't think so, because there are not many voters," he said.
The nearest simultaneous Pilkades will take place on October 11, 2023.
"Pileg per electoral district is usually 2 to 3 sub-districts for the DPRD, if the Provincial DPRD and DPR are per district/city, the coverage is too wide, so they choose to play at the village level," said DN.
He himself admitted that he benefited from the botoh phenomenon. Not that he was bet on by the botohs, but because he won defeating the candidate that the botohs bet on.
"The cost of my candidacy was partly donated by the people who wanted me to be the village head, and partly by the botohs, so I actually benefited. If you say it damages democracy, yes, it definitely does, but the significance depends on each village," DN concluded.
A major Sragen botoh, NA, 48, when talking with Solopos.com, Saturday (27/5/2023), revealed that before the 2024 General Election, botoh first focused on the village head election because it was only five months away. The Kedungupit Pilkades, NA said, was the location where the botoh gathered.
"Why in Kedungupit Village? Because there are only two possible candidates, so it's head to head. In that village there is also the role of political party figures. We have seen the figures who will run for the village head election, which are a former village head and a businessman. Even now, the botoh game is already underway and there is already a turnover of up to Rp30 million even though it is still five months away," he said.
NA sees many botohs from outside Kedungupit village at play. Apart from Kedungupit, Jetak Pilkades in Sidoharjo Subdistrict and Puro Pilkades in Karangmalang Subdistrict were also bustling with botoh.
The Puro Pilkades is also expected to be quite rowdy because there may only be two candidates running. He explained that there are 10 villages holding Pilkades. These villages are Ngrombo (Plupuh Subdistrict), Jambeyan (Sambirejo), Puro (Karangmalang), Kedungupit (Sragen), Jetak (Sidoharjo), Sunggingan, Girimargo, and Doyong (Miri), Ngandul (Sumberlawang), Banyurip (Jenar).
The chairman of the Sragen Regency Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), Dwi Budhi Prasetya, admitted that he had heard of the practice in Sragen.
"So it is gambling, there are candidates, then there is a bet on who will win. They wait for the final results after the election is over, well, so far what I know is the locus of the incident is in the Pilkades," he said, Tuesday (5/16/2023).
Dwi Budhi said Bawaslu does not have the authority to supervise the Pilkades. Pilkades supervision is under the auspices of a team formed by the local government under the coordination of the Community and Village Development Agency.
Even so, Bawaslu is ready to act if the practice of botoh begins to move into Pileg, Pilkada, or Pilpres. Dwi Budhi explained that the practice of botoh is not regulated in Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections, but there are rules that can ensnare perpetrators related to it.
"If someone gives money to influence someone to not vote or vote for someone, it is regulated in the law. The source of money is not only from the campaign team or the candidates themselves or those related to the candidates, anyone can be charged under the article," he explained.
So, continued Dwi Budhi, someone who practices botoh or other types of money politics can be charged with articles that lead to money politics.
"But, so far we have never caught the phenomenon [botoh], or even charged the perpetrators with the article," he said.
Based on his experience, the money politics article once ensnared a suspect in the 2015 Pilkada in Sragen.
"At that time it was not botoh, but someone distributed groceries to vote for this pair, like that. The process was reported to Panwaskab [the name of Bawaslu at that time], until it went into the criminal domain, and the perpetrator was sentenced to prison," he explained.
Legislator Sugiyamto, who is also the Chairperson of Commission IV of the Sragen DPRD, admitted that until now he had not heard of botoh taking action ahead of the 2024 elections, especially the legislative elections.
In fact, no billboards of legislative candidates have been installed on the main roads in Sragen. He predicts that the billboards of candidates will begin after the announcement of the fix candidates for the DPR, provincial DPRD, and regency/city DPRD.
"In addition, we are still waiting for the decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) whether the election is open or closed. Even then, we are still waiting for the stages of candidate numbers and so on," he explained, contacted Monday (12/6/2023).
Sugiyamto admitted that the botoh phenomenon often occurs at the Pilkades level, but has not yet invaded the legislative elections.
"For Pilkada or Presidential Election, I have indeed heard of the botoh phenomenon. As for the legislative elections, I have received a lot of information about candidates who spend a lot on money politics to get elected, but when they sit in the council seats, they don't speak at all, they don't understand the issues, this is what concerns us," he said.
Sugiyamto then criticized Bawaslu for seemingly turning shut up when there is potential for blatant money politics by the candidates.
"They have eyes up to the village, they should be able to take action immediately. Money politics at the village level is horrible. The majority of them [candidates] spent up to Rp1 billion for that," said Sugiyamto.
The Chairman of the Sragen General Election Commission (KPU), Minarso, said that currently the election stage has reached the period of document correction of the requirements for candidates for DPRD members. The total number of candidates who have registered is 566 from 17 political parties participating in the 2024 elections.
"We just had a plenary meeting to determine the fix voter list on June 21," he said, Sunday (6/25/2023).
Sragen Police Chief AKBP Piter Yanottama admitted that his team had sniffed out the botoh phenomenon that followed every moment of the simultaneous Pilkades, but not yet in the Pileg, Pilkada, and Pilpres.
"Botoh is mostly targeting Pilkades, not Pileg, Pilkada or Pilpres. Perhaps the scope is too broad, the variables. When it comes to Pilkades, it [botoh] always appears," he said, Monday (12/6/2023).
The preventive effort is to socialize to the community that botoh practices are synonymous with gambling.
"If the evidence is sufficient, caught while gambling, we will immediately take action. We convey this socialization through social media (medsos), as well as verbally through members. At least it is a warning so that they don't practice botoh. We also deployed intel," he explained.
Strong action will be taken against botoh who are proven to have played games in the Pilkades. This is done because it is feared that the presence of botoh will worsen the conduciveness of the Pilkades event. Apart from botoh, the potential for money politics will also be watched out for.
The potential for money politics along with intimidation and other illegal practices, there will be a monitoring mechanism that is expected to involve the BPD team or Pilkades supervisors.
"In the last Pilkades [2022], it was relatively safe, perhaps because of massive socialization, besides we suspect because they are afraid of the existence of informants or intel. It could be that they want to bet, but afraid of being caught by informants and being charged with a crime," said Piter.
In an interview with Solopos.com, some time ago, a political observer at Sebelas Maret University (UNS) Solo, Agus Riewanto, considered the botoh phenomenon as unique because it could shift the legislative elections from politically rational to economically rational.
He said it was as if the public wanted to make legislative elections a place to make money.
"If botoh becomes a tradition, it will erode political logic for noble purposes. To suppress botoh, it can be reported to Bawaslu or it can be Bawaslu's own findings. If it fulfills the elements of a campaign in the form of money politics, it can be charged with Article 523 of Law No. 7/2017 on Elections with a maximum penalty of 2 years and a maximum fine of IDR 24 million," said Agus, who is also the former Chairman of the Sragen KPU.
Academician of Communication Study Program of FISIP UNS, Deniawan Tommy, thinks that the botoh phenomenon shows that democracy has become a gambling event. He said the concept of democracy like this is wrong because choosing candidates in legislative elections is not based on personal quality but based on predictions. He said that if this botoh tradition is maintained, it will jeopardize democracy because of the deviation of democracy.
"Legislative elections are a process of electing people's representatives whose job is to oversee the performance of the executive government system and accommodate the aspirations of the people. If they are elected based on predictions or assumptions, political degradation has occurred. Politics has shifted into an unhealthy game. The solution, yes, is to return to the common sense in democracy," he said.
He saw that the emergence of botoh could be indicated as a stirring of opinion and part of the crime of democracy. He asked Bawaslu to respond to this by investigating who was botohan. He suspects that the existence of botoh could have been created by certain powers intentionally to disrupt the democratic process.
"Unfortunately, so far there are no regulations governing election botoh. To dismiss it, election organizers must massively socialize to the regions," he added.
Meanwhile, Solopos.com's sources say that botoh actors are not always people who have an interest in the area where they bet. Some botoh even come from outside the region. When asked further about whether the botoh would ask for reciprocal benefits when the candidate he bet on won, the source said it depended on the candidate, considering that the winner was not certain, but it could be true.
The botoh actor could be someone who has power because he needs capital to bet. "But it could also be just a bet. But what is certain is that the perpetrators of botoh are usually people known to the community because betting requires trust," said the source. []
MARIYANA RICKY P.d
This article originally published by Solopos.com on July 11, 2023, with the support of the RESPECT Program hosted by Perludem.
