Anita Rachman – House of Representative's Speaker Marzuki Alie, a member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, has labeled a Golkar proposal that legislators be given Rp 15 billion ($1.6 million) to spend on their constituents as attempted theft from the state.

Marzuki said the Rp 8.4 trillion ($907 million) proposal, defended by Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie, was "robbery of the state's budget." He said ideas to develop villages must be based on clear programs.

All parties other than Golkar have rejected the proposal, though Golkar has succeeded in getting a House committee to discuss its scheme, which is far more costly than the Bank Century bailout.

Senior Golkar legislator Priyo Budi Santoso, deputy house speaker, said he was surprised at the fuss given that during informal discussion with fellow coalition partners, including the Democrats, the "talking was normal."

"But now it seems that it's only Golkar that has proposed the idea." Priyo said the objectives behind the proposal was to develop villages so that it was not only the nation's cities that moved forward.

"But if the proposal is rejected, we will propose another one – that Rp 1 billion is distributed to each subdistrict or village, not through lawmakers, but directly to villages," he said. "Please don't oppose this, villages need to be built."

Golkar took a beating in last year's legislative and presidential elections and observers have questioned whether the party, the once political vehicle of former dictator Suharto, can reassert its dominance in 2014 under Bakrie, a hugely controversial businessman labeled by former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as an "enemy" of reform.

Deputy House Speaker Pramono Anung, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said and continued discussion about the "pork barrel" scheme would end badly given the funds could be misused.