Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – Despite a spate of recent criticism over lack of action in the House of Representatives, a House budget committee on Monday proposed that all lawmakers be provided with an extra Rp 200 million ($22,400), for the construction of new offices to serve as meeting places with constituents in their respective regions.

The proposal just comes three days after a man scaled and spray-painted the roof of the House of Representatives building with the words jujur (honest), tegas (firm) and adil (fair), in a show of disgust over the body's inefficacy.

"We have established a special working committee to deliberate this proposal," said Pius Lustrilanang, deputy chief of the legislative body's Household Affairs Committee (BURT), which proposed the budget item. "We hope that the process to build these [facilities] will begin next year."

Pius said the committee had asked for Rp 122 billion to be allocated in the House's 2011 budget for the construction of what lawmakers have termed "aspiration homes." The name refers to places where constituents can have their aspirations heard.

The proposal comes on the heels of heavy criticism of House members for truancy and their continuing failure to pass priority bills into law even as they have pledged to pass 70 laws by the end of the year. They have only passed seven since October, all of them amendments to existing laws.

Lawmakers had earlier requested funds for a new Rp 1.8 trillion House building, while the Golkar Party had argued for a Rp 15 billion-per-lawmaker pork barrel fund.

Lawmaker Mahfudz Siddiq, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said he supported the call for aspiration homes, saying they would better channel the needs of the masses.

House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso, from the Golkar Party, also supported the idea. He said the facilities would allow legislators to clearly listen to their constituents' needs.

Priyo said allocating funding for the new facilities was only fair because the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) was granted the same thing in 2007. "Since the DPD got such funding, it's quite reasonable for the House to ask for it too," he said.

But Yuna Farhan, the secretary general of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), said that the case of the DPD members was different.

While House members are affiliated with parties and can use party offices to host constituent meetings, he said DPD members were independent and thus required the special facilities.

Yuna also pointed out that House legislators had already been allocated funding to meet with their constituents.

According to a Fitra report, the national budget includes Rp 57.15 billion per year for programs related to hearing from constituents, Rp 173.16 billion per year for official visits and Rp 94.37 billion for intensive communication with constituents. "If approved, there will be an overlap of budget," Yuna said.

"The legislators are already allocated funding to carry out their function to listen to the people."

Some politicians have also spurned the idea. Wiranto, who chairs the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), has instructed all Hanura lawmakers to reject the proposal.

"Hanura lawmakers are welcome to use their salaries to build such facilities," he said. "It would be better if this proposed budget was instead directed toward securing health insurance for the poor."

Tjahjo Kumolo, the House faction leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that the proposal marked another step in the legislature's shift toward "excessive individualism."

He said funding for the facilities would weaken the country's political system, as such individual privilege would reduce legislators' engagement with their parties.

Tjahjo said the money allocated for the facilities could instead be used for programs that would benefit the people directly.

"Instead of wasting hundreds of millions on aspiration homes, we could use the money to buy tractors for farmers or generators for fishermen," he said, adding that such spending would have a more realistic impact.

Budiman Sudjatmiko, a PDI-P lawmaker, said that he had built his own aspiration home in his constituency of Purwokerto, Central Java, from his House salary.

"I used the communication fees I received," he said. "Six times a year we visit our constituents, and for that we get Rp 8 million per visit. I used that money, plus my monthly salary, to build this [aspiration] home."

If the proposal was approved, Budiman said he would not take the money.

House Deputy Speaker Taufik Kurniawan, from the National Mandate Party (PAN), said the BURT should reconsider making the proposal official.

"The idea must be transparently discussed with the public before it is officially brought to a House plenary session, particularly considering that the House is currently under such heavy criticism," he said.