D

efying public criticism over its poor legislative performance, the House of Representatives officially announced on Wednesday plans to construct new buildings at the Senayan legislative complex in Central Jakarta, arguing an improved work environment would help lawmakers boost their performance and get closer to the public.

In a speech delivered during a plenary session, Deputy House Speaker Fahri Hamzah said the House was planning to establish seven new facilities: the so-called Democracy Square to accommodate public rallies, a museum and library, an access street designated for visitors, a closed-door visitor center, offices to facilitate multi-purpose research, offices for lawmakers and support staff and a residential compound for lawmakers.

Development of the new facilities, according to Fahri, had been recommended by a small team established in February by the House to implement organizational reform.

Fahri, who serves as the team'€™s leader, said the facilities would be built in stages, with Democracy Square as the top priority.

'€œIn Jakarta, people stage rallies at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle [in Central Jakarta], or outside the legislative complex, creating congestion and disturbing others.

This happens because the House does not provide enough space to engage public participation,'€ the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician said, adding that the square would become the largest public rally spot in the country.

Fahri, however, did not elaborate on where funds would come from, nor the time-frame for the development project, saying the team would focus on disseminating the plan to lawmakers and the public first.

'€œAlthough the legislative body will only need a very small proportion of the state budget [for the project], we want to use it in an open and transparent manner,'€ he said.

During the past several years, lawmakers have complained about the poor work environment, mainly attributing the problem to overcrowding.

In 2011, the House, under the leadership of Democratic Party lawmaker Marzuki Alie, floated the idea of constructing a new legislative building worth Rp 1.16 trillion (US$88.1 million). The plan, however, was canceled due to public criticism over lawmakers'€™ poor legislative performance.

A similar fate will likely befall the current plan, according to Uchok Sky Khadafi of the Center for Budget Analysis (CBA).

'€œAs long as lawmakers fail to improve their performance, the public will not allow lawmakers to use taxpayer money to build new facilities,'€ Uchok told The Jakarta Post.

'€œInstead of building new offices, why don'€™t the lawmakers use existing meeting halls or meeting rooms they rarely use [as office space] for support staff?'€

After seven months in office the House has passed just three laws, including the 2015 Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law, mainly due to prolonged infighting as a result of the formation of the ruling and opposition coalitions following last year'€™s presidential election.

Some lawmakers, however, remain uninformed on the particulars of the proposed development project.

Gerindra Party lawmaker Sodik Mudjahid, who is also a member of Fahri'€™s reform team, said his party had no knowledge about the infrastructure project proposed during Wednesday'€™s plenary session, as no one from the party had attended the meeting prior to the announcement.

'€œIn the previous House term, the Gerindra Party rejected the proposal to build a new building [for lawmakers]. However, we will thoroughly study the new proposal and later decide our stance,'€ he said.