The people’s (Rakyat) so-called representatives (Wakil) – the notoriously lazy and corrupt House of Representatives (MPR) – are proposing a series of controversial revisions to the 2014 Legislative Institutions Law (RUU MD3) which critics say will give legal impunity to lawmakers and threatens to erode freedom of speech and expression.

The revisions – which are supported by all but two of the political parties in the house including the President Widodo’s ruling PDI-P – effectively protect lawmakers from public criticism by allowing the MPR’s ethics council to bring criminal charges against anyone who ‘disrespects’ the dignity of the House or its members and will force police and corruption investigators to secure consent from the ethics council before investigating a member of parliament.