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Dear Lawmakers,

I would like to voice my concern over your recent shenanigans, which I believe may tarnish your reputation as an institution. And since your institution represents the country’s ultimate stakeholders, the people, I must say I’m a bit ashamed.

If you haven’t noticed, the watchdog known as the news media has been scrutinizing your daily dealings. We watch you with an eagle eye and will roar and pounce like a lion if we catch you embroiled in anything unacceptable. Well, let’s just say that you are embroiled.

I have attended many of your meetings and learned that lawmakers refer to each other as “yang terhormat,” or “the respected.” But in a number of rather laughable instances, you guys have acted like you had never heard of the word “respected,” much less knew what it meant.

Let’s look at how you behaved during the Bank Century mess. I’m not talking about the bailout police, but about your general behavior and treatment of others.

Take what happened last Thursday, for instance. The outgoing finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, visited the House to say goodbye before moving to the United States to begin her new job with the World Bank. Out of 560 lawmakers only about 100 were present. Some of you actually came but then walked out of the room in a gesture of political boycott.

It was a pretty shameful sight. Let me remind you, you’re actually paid by the people to attend these meetings.

Last week’s scenario has occurred a number of times this year, including during hearings between the budget committee and Sri Mulyani, where you guys had actually invited her to come. I’m sorry, but these walk-outs are like a chubby little starts wailing because his nanny won’t buy him a second helping of a three-scoop ice cream.

OK, so some of you believe that Sri Mulyani was guilty of illegal actions in the Bank Century bailout and view her as the enemy. But the law enforcers, the real judges, have yet to pound their gavels. Until then, you should have shown more respect to the finance minister.

Oh, and it’s funny how you guys have been barking about getting rid of Sri Mulyani and Vice President Boediono, but never once have we heard you talk about asset recovery.

During her recent lecture at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Jakarta, Sri Mulyani stated that one of the reasons why she had quit her job as finance minister was because she was appalled by your political maneuvering. She mentioned how so many times during the bailout probe, you lawmakers would ask her a difficult question. But when she replied, you guys would simply ignore her. As she puts it, you only pretended like you actually cared because the hearings were being broadcast on national television.

Well, I just want to say thank you very much for the political brouhaha. You’ve managed to help the country lose one of our finest ministers ever.

We also saw numerous displays of bad manners during your Bank Century meetings.

You must remember the scene during the House plenary session on the Bank Century recommendation in March, when some of you guys lost all composure when the House speaker ended the session prematurely. Some of you confronted the leader of the meeting, ready to try out some of your best Mike Tyson moves on him had security not stepped in.

Then there was that infamous verbal quarrel caught on national television, where one lawmaker rudely told another to “shut up,” and the other responded with “bangsat” (“bastard”). Such profanity in your respectable chambers is as offensive as a foul-mouthed toddler. The House is an institution that provides a venue for you lawmakers to respectfully air your differences, not a warung for you to argue like a bunch of street thugs.

Dear lawmakers, your job is to represent us, the people. Whatever you do in the House is a reflection of who we are — and your recent behavior has made us look bad. So until you clean up your act, I will call your institution our House of the Not So Representative.

Yours truly.

Armando Siahaan is a reporter with the Jakarta Globe and writes a weekly column about current events. Find Jakarta Journo on Facebook at http://bit.ly/apxo4g, or e-mail him at armando.siahaan@thejakartaglobe.com.