Anita Rachman – Judging from the many seats left empty at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, not all lawmakers thought the plenary session to hear the president's state-of-the-nation address was important enough to show up.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie said only 384 out of 560 lawmakers (69 percent) attended the plenary, which opened the 2011-12 sitting period and allowed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to present the state budget.

Deputy House Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said that House leaders would launch an investigation. However, he said he actually saw more lawmakers attending a prior session, when the president delivered his Independence Day speech.

"For a state event like this, which happens only once a year, it's unacceptable for lawmakers to be absent just because they feel sick," Priyo said. "We must manage to all show up."

He added that it was also unacceptable if lawmakers used the fasting month as an excuse to skip the plenary, for example if they said they were too tired. Priyo said he planned to check with the various factions at the House to establish why individual lawmakers were absent.

Mahfudz Siddiq, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) deputy secretary general, said the reason why so many seats were empty was that there was a growing skepticism of the government.

"There have been messages [circulated via BlackBerry Messenger] to turn off the television during the [president's] speech, and we see [the effect] here. It's a symptom of skepticism in the government," he said.

Eva Kusuma Sundari, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), echoed the sentiment. "There was no enthusiasm to attend the plenary because [lawmakers] were skeptical about the president's speech – that it would be boring and full of image-building," she said.