Ulma Haryanto – One of the main refrains from members of the House of Representatives who say a costly new office tower needs to be built is, "Our offices are cramped."

When the Jakarta Globe visited a number of offices at the House over the weekend, it was clear that while the House leadership has little to complain about, other offices could certainly be described as packed.

The 24-story Nusantara I building at the House complex in South Jakarta hosts offices for 560 legislators from nine political parties. Each party typically takes up 2 floors, with the exception of major ones such as Democratic Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party, which occupy four levels. Legislators typically share a 32 square-meter room with their staffers.

When they were built in the 1980s, the offices were designed to accommodate three assistants per legislator. Today's legislators, though, can have as many as six assistants – an argument used to quadruple the office area in the planned new building to about 111 square meters per lawmaker.

The new building is estimated to cost 1.13 trillion ($130 million), and the cost per square meter of office space for the lawmakers is about Rp 7.2 million.

The current building apparently lacks proper spatial planning. Some spaces, the Globe found, were hardly used at all, or for non-essential purposes. On Level 13, for instance, there was a shoe-polish machine.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie, one of the main backers of the construction plan, has little reason to complain. His spacious office in the Nusantara III building has enough room for the tables of his four aides, a small living room and a meeting room. He has another room for six assistants, a grand living room for honorary guests and a separate meeting room for the House leadership.

At the time of the Globe's visit, the sound of his 48-inch flatscreen television echoed across his quarters.

In contrast, many other offices were fairly cramped, such that of Lenny and Sofia, assistants to Nudirman Munir, deputy chairman of the House Ethics Council and a leading Golkar lawmaker.

Located on the 12th floor of Nusantara I, Nudirman's office seemed to lack furniture. "Nudirman sometimes has meetings with all of us, and some have to sit on the floor," Sofia said. His staff members have to share one computer with a CRT screen. "There is also this long line when it's time to pray because we only have one bathroom for a block shared with six other offices," Lenny said.

The lobby on the 12th floor was more attractive, with a thick-cushioned leather sofa and a 24-inch flatscreen TV.

Some still had hopes for the current building. "In my opinion, this building only needs a renovation and better spatial planning," said Yudha, one of six people working for PDI-P legislator Eva Kusuma Sundari in a nine square-meter office, though not all at the same time.

"When all of us have to meet, we do it outside. However, we have just moved the separator between the rooms by two meters. Previously, it was even smaller than this," Yudha said.

The PDI-P has a total of 56 legislator offices, two meeting rooms and a consultation room. "Don't ask me when they last changed the carpets," Yudha said with a laugh.