Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Legislators from the oversight commission for home affairs have called into doubt the president's claim that the creation of new administrative regions was a failure, and also lambasted their leadership for playing along.

Chairuman Harahap, chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission II, said he had received many positive reports following the establishment of the new regions.

"The government's statement that regional autonomy is a failure is highly debatable," the Golkar Party lawmaker told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.

On Wednesday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said 80 percent of the 205 regions created over the past decade had not been successful.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie, from the president's Democratic Party, agreed and pledged Commission II's support for an extension to the moratorium on creating new regions.

However, Commission II member Basuki Purnama, from Golkar, said Marzuki was not qualified to speak on behalf of the commission. "He said Commission II had agreed to the idea, when in fact we've always opposed the moratorium," he said.

"The whole issue is getting hazy. Does the speaker believe the rest of the lawmakers are his subordinates? We demand an explanation for his comments."

Ganjar Pranowo, deputy chairman of Commission II, said Marzuki may have been kowtowing to the president when he made the statement. He said he had contacted the deputy speakers to confirm whether they shared the same view on regional autonomy.

"They told me the situation was really complicated during Wednesday's meeting at the State Palace," the legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said.

"None of them had the chance to speak, so Marzuki did all the talking. No matter what the case, we'll definitely demand clarification for why they pledged our support for the government's stance."

Marzuki, meanwhile, denied that he had gagged his four deputies at the meeting, saying they had all unanimously decided three months earlier to support the government's position.

"So at the State Palace on Wednesday, I spoke not just for myself but for them and the House leadership too," he said.

Ganjar argued that technically there was no moratorium on the creation of new regions, only a presidential decree suspending the practice.

"How are we supposed to support a moratorium when it isn't even defined in our legal parlance?" he said.

"We refuse to side one way or another on regional expansion until the government makes it clear what their policies vis-a-vis the issue really are. "We also want them to lift this blanket ban and begin considering cases for creating new regions."

Fellow commission member Teguh Juwarno, from the National Mandate Party (PAN), urged the government to proceed cautiously on the issue.

"We want them to be more careful in any future decisions they make," he said. "We also want to make sure that the taxpayer money used to fund these new regions is accounted for."

Since 1999, a total of seven new provinces, 164 regencies and 34 municipalities have been created from existing regions.