Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – As eight lawmakers flew to Greece on Saturday to study ethics, the public is left asking: If overwhelming opposition can't stop legislators from jetting off to various parts of the world, what will?

Constitutional law expert Irman Putra Sidin said the problem was that the law did not prohibit legislators from going abroad. But he said they should be more sensitive to public demand.

Iberamsjah, a political analyst from University of Indonesia, says the trip only showed that the House of Representatives Ethics Council "has no ethics."

"At the same time, they are also embarrassing most Indonesians because they admit that most Indonesians know nothing about ethics, and that they must learn it from other countries," he said.

Ronald Rofiandri, from the Center for Law and Policy Studies, added the trip was clear evidence that lawmakers did not really listen to the public they supposedly represented.

"The lawmakers are betraying their roles as representative of the citizens, they have no sensibility whatsoever and are only distancing themselves further from the people," Ronald said.

He believes the House leadership should impose a moratorium on overseas trips. "The House leadership must heed public demand and immediately impose a moratorium on any planned overseas trips," he said, adding that the House should conduct a study on how to make these trips more effective.

Yurist Oloan, from the Forum of Citizens Concerned about the Indonesian Legislature (Formappi), said lawmakers have conducted at least 19 overseas trips to 14 different countries without any clear objectives or results from October 2009 to September 2010. "There is no accountability and transparency over any overseas trips," Yurist said.

He does not believe lawmakers would stop the study trips and said foreign countries should ban visits from Indonesian legislators. "Please reject their visa application," he said.