Dessy Sagita & Anita Rachman – With all other efforts proving futile, a group of watchdogs said it would push through with filing a civil lawsuit today to force the leadership of the House of Representatives to cancel a planned office tower for lawmakers.

"The lawsuit will be directed to the House speaker, heads of the political factions, the House secretariat, the finance minister and the president," Yuna Farhan, secretary general of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), which heads the group of nongovernmental organizations bringing the suit, said on Sunday.

"We are asking all the aforementioned people to cancel the plan to build the new building, and we are asking the court to issue an order to halt any activity related to the construction."

Yuna said the group had exhausted all other avenues to halt the construction. "We conveyed open criticism through the media, staged demonstrations, we warned them of legal action. None of our efforts received a proper response from House," he said.

This is the second civil suit lodged against the House in relation to the new building.

The House has refused to budge on the issue of the new building, which lawmakers say will cost Rp 1.13 trillion ($130 million) but Fitra says will actually amount to Rp 1.8 trillion once furniture and fixtures are included.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday that he welcomed the lawsuit but wanted the public to understand that he was not responsible for the decision to give the project the go-ahead. He said all House factions had supported the decision.

At Friday's House plenary session, the last before a month's recess, legislators from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) walked out to protest the fact that there would be no discussion about the plan.

Marzuki insisted the PDI-P had not rejected the proposal when it had the chance during a consultative meeting the previous day. "We can take a look at the recording of the meeting. The PDI-P never opposed the plan, so let's not fool people here," he said.

Marzuki said the plan would go ahead because that was what the House factions had decided. "How great would I be if I could decide something that important on my own?" he said.