Robert Go, Jakarta – Hackers forced the temporary closure of the website of Indonesia's highest legislative assembly yesterday after plastering it with sarcastic messages alleging its members were corrupt and out of touch with the crises facing the country.

A group calling itself HiddenLine attacked the MPR website early yesterday and succeeded in delivering "commentaries from the little people who love Indonesia" aimed at the nation's MPs.

The hacked page carried sarcastic dialogues on several topics, ridiculing, among other things, the MPs' plan to give themselves wage raises, the government's failure to settle several human-rights cases and the poor asset disposal by the restructuring agency Ibra.

One passage quoted former president Abdurrahman Wahid, who criticised the government for not paying attention to poverty and education while "giving rise to a new generation of thieves". But the hackers also took potshots at Mr Abdurrahman, ridiculing his habit of falling asleep in his chair during Cabinet meetings and formal events at parliament.

Indonesian police, when contacted, were not aware of the cyber crime committed against the nation's highest legislative body. The Web address displayed test pages when visited late yesterday in a sign that at least the MPR's Web administrators were taking the problem seriously.

A Web search revealed that a group of hackers by the same name has "defaced" at least 48 public sites based in Indonesia and elsewhere in Asia.