Lynn Lee & Wahyudi Soeriaamatdja, Jakarta – Five months after they were elected in April's parliamentary elections, 560 new legislators will be sworn in next Thursday.

The inauguration ceremony reportedly will cost some US$4.7 million (S$6.7 million), with a third of the funds going towards hotel rooms, bus rentals, clothing and bags for the legislators, who are coming from across Indonesia.

Each legislator will also get 2 million rupiah (S$290) in pocket money for that period, according to The Jakarta Globe.

Three in four, or 73 per cent, of the lawmakers are said to be new faces – and this includes plenty of celebrities and entertainment personalities – due to tweaks to the voting system that allowed the country's 171 million voters to directly pick parliamentarians on April 9.

Previously, they would cast their vote for the party, which would then select the legislators to send to the House.

Observers have, for months, rued the fact that the majority of parliamentarians have no experience in making and drafting laws – a process crucial for Indonesia as it undertakes widespread reforms of its bureaucracy to attract more investment and develop the country. They have urged newbies to bone up on their knowledge of the law, among other things.

A recent survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) showed that members of the public are hopeful that their choices for the House will represent them well, said senior researcher Burhanuddin Muhtadi. Some 1,600 people from different income brackets were polled for the survey.

As for the performance of the current lawmakers, only half of the respondents were satisfied.

"For some, it was the attitude and behaviour of legislators, who are known to skip Parliament sittings and spend all their time in Jakarta instead of being on the ground with their constituents," Mr Burhanuddin told The Straits Times.

When the next term starts, the new legislators will have to tackle a number of Bills left over from their predecessors during their five-year tenure.