Anita Rachman – If any government body could use a fresh start in 2011 it is the House of Representatives.

After a year of courting controversy with ill-advised pork-barrel schemes, a proposed new and expensive office building and costly overseas trips on the taxpayer's dime, lawmakers are being urged to rebuild their tattered image in the new year.

Sebastian Salang, from Concerned Citizens for the Indonesian Legislature (Formappi), said on Thursday that the House was so embroiled in controversy this year that it achieved little of note.

"People's trust in the House has fallen to zero," he said in a meeting with House Speaker Marzuki Alie. "Next year, the House must regain the people's trust by eliminating insignificant and unpopular policies."

He said his group had tried to identify the achievements of lawmakers, but "we don't know what there is to praise". "The problem is, the House hasn't just had a poor performance – it's also proven to be lazy."

Much of the criticism leveled at lawmakers, he added, concerned their lack of discipline and their poor attendance at plenary sessions.

With lawmakers skipping so many meetings, it is no surprise they fell far short of their legislative target. The House had set a target of passing 70 bills by the end of the year but managed only 16, and many of those concerned routine matters like budgets.

"The way the public sees it, legislators have done nothing significant," Sebastian said. "The first law passed by the House this year was on clemency for death-row inmates. How many people will that benefit? The House should instead have passed laws that would help the wider public."

He said if legislators did not improve their performance in 2011, the growing public anger could prove a threat to the House or even Indonesian democracy itself.

"If the House fails to regain some level of moral legitimacy, then it's in danger," he said. "The people will ignore whatever it does and they'll stop coming out for elections. They're already getting fed up with the House and the electoral system. If the people stop voting, that's a threat to our democracy."

Marzuki said that while the House did everything "with good intentions," some of its members "can't deliver the message well." He cited the proposed office building, with a price tag of Rp 1.3 trillion ($144 million) and featuring a swimming pool and spa.

The new building, he said, was only proposed because the current one was overcrowded. "But because our communication was weak, this otherwise good concept turned rotten," he said.

In a written statement reviewing the House's performance over the past year, Marzuki said all the criticism of lawmakers had been duly noted and would be addressed.

"The House, and myself as the speaker, has not turned a blind eye to the criticism, suggestions and proposals from various groups," he wrote. Marzuki added that he hoped lawmakers would do better in 2011, including meeting their legislative target, which has been increased to 91 bills.