Jakarta – A new survey published on Sunday revealed that most people do not want their children or future children to work as lawmakers due to the growing negative perception of the profession.

The Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) found in its most recent poll of 1,200 respondents in seven provinces, a staggering 56.43 percent were reluctant to see their children become members of the House of Representatives. In the study, conducted from Nov. 12 to Nov. 15, only 37.62 percent of respondents hoped their sons and daughters would become politicians.

"According to a survey conducted in 2008, only 31.32 percent of respondents perceived being a lawmaker as a negative job for their children. The figure rose about 25 percent in the latest survey, reflecting the fact people have higher resentment toward the profession," Rully Akbar, an LSI researcher, said during a press conference in Jakarta.

According to focus group discussions and in-depth interviews of some respondents, LSI named corruption cases as the main cause of public dissatisfaction.

Respondents noted that many lawmakers had been implicated in corruption cases, such as the Youth and Sports Ministry's Hambalang sports complex project and the Religious Affairs Ministry's Koran procurement project.

"The respondents also considered State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan's report that lawmakers had extorted state-owned firms, and Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam's statement that political parties had put their members in ministries to orchestrate budget allocations," he added.

Most respondents (69.55 percent) also believed that House members only thought about their own group or other vested interests. Only 22.76 percent of respondents them were sure that lawmakers defended people's rights and needs.

Moreover, respondents believed that some lawmakers had conducted inappropriate acts, such as engaging in extramarital affairs (71.1 percent), living luxurious lifestyles (78.9 percent), skipping or sleeping during meetings (87.3 percent) and conducting humiliating acts, such as opening a pornographic website during a meeting (69.7 percent). (yps/iwa)