Febriamy Hutapea – A group of nongovernmental organizations on Thursday officially called for House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie, a member of the president's Democratic Party, to resign for allegedly representing the government's position more than the aspirations of the House.

"He often places himself as a speaker for the Democrats and the government, rather than the speaker of the House," said Sebastian Salang, chairman of Concerned Citizens for the Indonesian Parliament (Formappi).

Sebastian was one of a number of activists representing nine antigraft organizations and watchdogs who visited the House on Thursday to officially report Marzuki to the House's Ethics Council over actions they claimed further tarnished the House's image.

The activists handed over documents supporting their claims. They were claimed to contain evidence of Marzuki's controversial behavior since he assumed the post five months ago.

Activists said the documents included a complaint about Marzuki once having attended a crucial meeting in January at the Bogor Presidential Palace to discuss a number of issues related to democracy.

The meeting was attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and leaders of the seven state institutions.

Activists alleged that Marzuki attended the meeting not only without informing any other House leader, but that he also failed to report the meeting's results to them.

The submission of the report to the Ethics Council comes just days after the House's senior members expressed a desire to ban Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, one of Yudhoyono's closest advisers, from House commission hearings.

Sebastian accused Marzuki of failing to effectively divide his responsibilities between being a Democratic Party official and leading plenary sessions as speaker of the House.

Toto Sugiarto, an executive director of Sugeng Sarjadi Syndicate, a public policy consultancy, said Marzuki had repeatedly portrayed arrogance and discrimination when leading House plenary sessions.

"He was unable to coordinate with other House leaders in dealing with a number of cases, at times making moves in the name of the House without consulting others," Toto said.

He added that the Democrats should propose a replacement rather than keeping Marzuki on and risk tainting the image of the House.

"We suggest that he resign, rather than being forced to step down," he said.

During last week's vote when a divided House found that the government's Rp 6.7 trillion ($730 million) bailout of PT Bank Century in 2008 broke the law and was possibly tainted by corruption, Marzuki led the session by repeatedly praising the Democrats, which had voted to find the bailout legal.

Marzuki also once opted to suspend a plenary session on the Bank Century scandal without consulting anyone because he was frustrated at being constantly interrupted by legislators during the previous day's session.

House deputy speaker Priyo Budi Santoso, of the Golkar Party, who had expressed his disappointment in Marzuki's decision to suspend the plenary session, softened his stance on Thursday and asked activists to give Marzuki time to improve as speaker.

Marzuki said he appreciated the concerns of the activists but felt he "was innocent". "Have I violated any laws?" he asked.