Ronna Nirmala & Anita Rachman – For many Indonesians, the news on Sunday that just one-fourth of the population still trusted politicians was not really news at all.

Nurenzia Yannuar, for instance, a lecturer from Malang, East Java, thinks the House of Representatives is a joke. The so-called representatives of the people, she said, think only of themselves. "It's clear they only care about their own issues and not ours," she said. "I simply cannot trust them."

Indonesia Survey Circle (LSI), which did the survey, pointed to rampant corruption as the reason only one in five of their 1,200 respondents said they still trusted the people who run the nation.

The study follows recent controversy involving the legislative committee in charge of approving how taxpayer money is spent. The survey, undertaken from Sept. 5-10, showed that only a minority of people believe the current politicians were superior to previous ones.

Nurenzia acknowledged that there might be some good politicians in the country. "But I believe there are few of them; the rest are all bad," she said.

But other people choose to look at the brighter side. "They're better than the politicians during the New Order," said Yully P., a designer, referring to the 32-year presidency of Suharto.

His attitude reflected that of 13 percent of respondents. "But I wouldn't say they're the best politicians ever," he added.

Rina Suryani, a public relations officer for an international nongovernmental organization, disagreed that the current crop was better than the those during the New Order, but believes there's a positive side to the study.

"I just hope [the survey] will teach everyone a lesson and lead to better politicians in the future," she said.

Muhammad Arwani Thomafi, the communications chairman of the United Development Party (PPP), agreed. "Whatever the motive was, the LSI survey must serve as an encouragement to improve the performance of politicians," he said. "For me, the important next question is: Is there a willingness to fix this?"

Golkar Party secretary general Nurul Arifin pointed to the party recruitment process as the start of the problem. "Nowadays, elections are won by popularity and organization, not quality," he said.

But Arwani said political parties were just one part of the problem, arguing that the public ought to share some of the blame.

While he agreed that political parties must encourage younger members to step up and take on more responsibility, and be more selective in recruiting members, the public must also be ready to vote for qualified leaders who demonstrate integrity.