Jakarta – Lawmakers made a plea Wednesday for the Press Council to rein in the media, which they said had gone too far in criticizing the House of Representatives.

Apparently dismayed by media reports highlighting political bickering, scandals and absenteeism, scores of legislators on Commission I on foreign affairs, military and the press accused news outlets of trying to belittle their contributions to democracy.

"We have produced hundreds of laws that have practically changed the face of this nation. Yet, the press seems to forget that and only focus on our ills," lawmaker Sidarto Danusubroto of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) told a hearing with the Press Council.

He said the media's actions were part of a plan to return to an authoritarian form of government by making the legislative body look incompetent. "Can't the Press Council do something about this?" Sidarto asked.

A similar accusation was made by Yusron Ihza Mahendra, a lawmaker from the Crescent Star Party (PBB). "We have performed better than the legislature of the New Order regime, but the press keeps making slanderous comments about House members, even in respected media outlets that have the largest circulation in the country," said Yusron, who was a correspondent for Kompas daily in Tokyo for seven years.

Permadi, another PDI-P legislator, said the thousands of journalists who covered the House in fact hindered members from performing their duties.

Press Council chairman Ichlasul Amal said the council cannot tell the press what to report. "The Press Council has no authority to make regulations, and the press follows only the journalistic code of ethics," he said.

Press Council member Sabam Leo Batubara said some coverage of House politics is driven by legislators themselves. "After all, I know there are dozens of journalists who are on House members' payrolls and have been used to further their political interests," Sabam said.

Over the six years following the 1998 downfall of Soeharto's autocratic New Order regime, 2,000 media outlets were launched. However, only 829 have survived, and of those, only 30 percent are fiscally healthy.