Anti-Corruption Programs for Governors' Campaign Period 2017-2018 in Java Island

Most of the studies regarding political campaigns focus heavily on strategy, evaluation, and communication by the candidate during the campaign. However, the study regarding anti-corruption programs campaigned by political candidates is still under research. This study examines the anti-corruption programs proposed by candidates for governor and vice governor on Java Island during 2017-2018 regional election. Further, this study employed a qualitative method using content analysis. The three objectives of this study are to examine the existence of anti-corruption program in vision-mission-working programs (VWMP) set by candidates, communication regarding anti-corruption programs during campaigning, and explanation of anti-corruption programs during electoral debate. The results revealed that only six of the thirteen candidates who ran for regional office included anti-corruption programmes in their VWMPs, seven candidates communicated their programs during the campaign period, and nearly all candidates explained their anti-corruption strategy in the electoral debate because the panelists asked them the question. It is argued that candidates did not prioritize campaigning for their anti-corruption programs because programs such as economic development, free education, and health care are more likely to get sympathy and support from voters.


INTRODUCTION
The political campaign is important in the modern era since the battle of a candidate or party will depend on the program arranged in the campaign xx.The political campaign could be a complex process since the politicians need to ensure their electorate to choose them for their performance in the campaign and the strength of the programs delivered in the campaign (Farrell & Schmitt-Beck, 2002;Hansen & Pedersen, 2014).Based on this theoretical framework, therefore, the primary focus on the campaigns of candidates for governors, regents, and city mayors (to simplify, the term will be "head of region") are on economic growth and physical development in the regions they will govern.This is typical, given that economic growth and physical development programs are the most visible and directly perceptible to voters.The candidates also take advantage of this tendency by creating campaign programs that have short periods and are quickly produced, in consequence the long-term programs are unappealing to candidates (Welsh & Farrington, 2012).According to information from Indonesia Corruption Watch (2022), between 2010 and 2018, 253 heads of regions were suspected of corruption.Furthermore, since Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) established in 2003, there were 22 governors and 122 regents/city mayors have been punished by the court because corruption case (Prakoso, 2021).If the head of region has been named as a subject of investigation by law enforcement agencies (LEA) or has been imprisoned while governing, it is possible that the economic or physical development programs established by the head of region will be neglected (Garoupa & Jellal, 2007).This in turn could disrupt the regional and economic development agenda (De Vaal & Ebben, 2011;Halkos & Tzeremes, 2010).However, society may believe that corruption prevention is not as urgent as poverty prevention (Ankamah & Manzoor E Khoda, 2018).In the end, financial crimes such as corruption have indirect or invisible effects on society (Anderson, 2015;Davies et al., 1999;Welsch, 2008).Also, the candidates may believe that preventing and eradicating corruption is not their primary responsibility, since law enforcement agencies are responsible for that (Widoyoko, 2018).This phenomenon could explain why the candidates do not prioritize the anticorruption program even though many head of regions in Indonesia have been convicted by the district court in corruption cases.Each candidate is supposed to reflect on the presidential election, where the electorate needs to hear anti-corruption program from each candidate of president because they do not want to vote for the candidate who has been involved in corruption (Dick & Mulholland, 2016;Hamilton-Hart, 2001).This is the reason why candidates running for regional elections should include an anticorruption program in their campaign and the voters should consider this program.
This study will focus on the anticorruption program proposed by candidates for governor and vice governor in Java Island during the 2017-2018 election cycle.The island of Java has been designated as the primary research topic because most corruption cases have occurred there (Widi, 2022).The only region excluded from this study is Yogyakarta, which has specific criteria where the governor and vice governor are inaugurated by the Sultan according to National Laws No. 13 of 2012 on the Yogyakarta Special Region.This study will examine the anti-corruption programs proposed by candidates as follows: This study aims to answer three key questions related to anti-corruption programs in the context of the 2017-2018 regional elections: (1) Whether anticorruption programs were included in the working programs of candidates who ran during this period; (2) whether candidates campaigned their anti-corruption programs to the public on a large scale; and (3) the way candidates explained their anti-corruption programs during electoral debates.
Previous studies regarding political campaigns in Indonesia heavily discussed strategy and evaluation, the use of social media, and political communication.But none of the studies talk about the campaign program to fight crime issues like corruption, where political actors play a role in preventing corruption through anticorruption programs like being transparent about how public funds are used and releasing an annual report on their activities as politicians that involve public funds (Roberts & Hastings, 2012).This study attempts to fill a knowledge gap regarding political campaigns on crime issues, with a primary focus on corruption.The limitation on this study is the scope of examining regional elections, which only focus on the island of Java, where there are 34 provinces in Indonesia.
For future research, the object of study could be extended to all provinces in Indonesia to gain a better understanding of the performance of each candidate for governor and vice governor while campaigning for their ideas to prevent corruption and also the implementation of their programs after they are officially elected.

RESEARCH METHOD
This study employed a qualitative method using content analysis, a methodology to analyze media communication, including text, documents, or even speech, to measure the objective of content (Bryman, 2012;Graneheim et al., 2017).To acquire data from media, this study will conduct data collection throughout the Internet, since the Internet can cover any topic from major media (Hewson et al., 2003).Furthermore, the use of the Internet is necessary because the program of each candidate has been uploaded by The Regional General Election Commission so that voters can obtain information regarding the profile and program of candidates.However, this study finds it difficult to collect the official program of each candidate contested in regional elections because the documents probably have been overlapped by any other publication or erased on The Regional General Election Commission's website.Thus, the solution is to search for other sources, such as social media and national news.Authenticity and accuracy of the information are prioritized because the This study also needs to capture the communication of each candidate regarding anti-corruption programs during the campaign period by exploring national news through the internet.Finally, the electoral debate broadcast on national television will be transcribed to gain information regarding anti-corruption programs for each candidate.By combining the official documents, the communication of each candidate during the campaign period, and transcribing the electoral debate held by The Regional General Election Commission, this study examines the anti-corruption program designed by each candidate and answers the research questions stated above.The methods mentioned above are similar to the research conducted by Marion and Farmer (2003), where the use of news in national media will be maximized to obtain a crime prevention program campaigned by the candidates.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Anti-Corruption Program in Candidate's Vision-Mission-Working Program (VWMP)
After examining the official programs submitted by the candidates, we summarize the anti-corruption programs of each candidate as follows:  Widi, 2022).However, only Sudrajat-Ahmad Syaikhu, the candidate from West Java, does not mention an anti-corruption program in their VWMP.Furthermore, this study finds that only six candidates specify anticorruption programs and not only state "clean government" and/or "bureaucracy reformation".The candidates who specify the details of the anti-corruption programs at VWMP are as follows: Beside specific programs set by six candidates, this study finds that the candidate from Banten, Wahidin Halim-Andika Hazrumy, explains the background condition regarding the chronic problem of corruption in Banten and states it in their working program.Since the candidates set anti-corruption program on their VWMP, however, they must deliver this program to the voters during campaign.The next session will discuss the campaign of the anti-corruption program and this study will capture it from national and/or local media.

Anti-Corruption Program Communication in Political Campaign
Setting a program in VWMP is insufficient if candidates fail to communicate it to the electorate.After studying multiple online news sources, the following table outlines the details of anti-corruption plans and where they communicate them if they are elected: This study discovered seven candidates who communicated in detail to the public about anti-corruption programs during the campaign period.However, some candidates communicated the anticorruption strategy during KPK-hosted events, but barely mentioned it during their campaigns with voters.This study also finds that there are four candidates who utilize symbols to show that they will avoid corruption.The candidates and symbols are shown in the table below: The use of symbols such as support from anti-corruption activists or being publicly known as an anti-corruption figure were used by candidates to convince the electorate that they would not be involved in corruption while they became governor and vice governor.After examining the communication from candidates regarding anti-corruption programs to the electorate, this study argues that some candidates may not specify the details of their anticorruption programs during the campaign because they understand that voters need a program that can bring direct prosperity, such as free education, the opening of new jobs, and enhancement in the regional economy, rather than programs to prevent corruption .However, in the long run, society will have a negative impact on corruption, thus affecting prosperity (Bentzen, 2012;Tay et al., 2014).Furthermore, this study suggests that candidates must communicate details to the public and not depend only on symbols.The last section discusses the anti-corruption programmes delivered by candidates in the electoral debate.

Anti-Corruption Programs Explanation in Electoral Debate
This study also examines the ability of each candidate to communicate anticorruption programs in the electoral debate held by the Regional General Elections Commission.Candidates will explain their plans if the panelists or the opponent ask them.However, the theme of the debate was not specifically anti-corruption but combined with the theme of "Clean government and public services".The Table 6 below shows the anti-corruption programs discussed by each candidate in the debate: