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awmakers have passed a contentious amendment that critics fear will stifle democratic debate in the country.

Through an amendment to the 2014 Legislative Institutions Law, also known as the MD3 Law, passed during a House of Representatives plenary session on Monday, the House agreed to the creation of an additional authority activists believe will enable lawmakers to silence their critics.

The revised law allows the House Ethics Council (MKD) to take legal action against individuals, groups of people and legal entities that “disrespect the dignity” of the House as an institution and the lawmakers themselves. The law, however, does not detail what actions constitute such violations.

The House Legislative Body (Baleg), which was tasked with discussing the bill with the government, has said the new provision was part of an effort to protect the House from any attempts at “contempt of parliament”.

“The MKD will have the right to report all groups or people who insult or spread smear campaigns against the House or its members,” Baleg member Lukman Edy of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said recently.

The MKD, a House body responsible for ensuring that all lawmakers behave ethically, has long lost the public’s trust because of its perceived lack of action in response to ethical breach allegations leveled at lawmakers. A number of alleged ethical violations filed to the MKD by civil society groups, including one centering on former House speaker Setya Novanto, who is now a graft defendant, remain unresolved.

Constitutional Law expert Feri Amsari said the move showed that the House was opposed to criticism and that this could hinder public participation in acting as a check and balance, a role crucial to a functioning democracy.

“The House members have been given the power by the people to criticize the government. How can they not allow the people to criticize them?,” he said.

Lukman, however, believed the MKD would show prudence in its exercise of the new power.

Asked how the MKD would differentiate between criticism and insults, Lukman said that everyone would “have to believe that the MKD is capable of providing an objective [judgement]”.

The revision will also allow an additional seat in the House leadership, which lawmakers have said would lead to a more balanced distribution of power and improve its performance.

The slot has been secured for the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), while the Golkar Party currently holds the House speaker position.

PDI-P has struggled to gain a seat on the speakership board since 2014 when the House decided to give the posts to members of the government’s opposition, which dominated the House at the time, including to Golkar and the National Mandate Party (PAN). The two parties, however, have since switched sides to support President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s PDI-P-led coalition in recent years.

Lawmakers of two pro-government parties, the NasDem Party and the United Development Party (PPP), decided to walk out of Monday’s session on the grounds that the speakership provision only accommodated certain interests.