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Even though senior members of the Corruption Eradication Commission have announced they would not accept new luxury Toyota cars distributed to senior officials, including cabinet ministers, House Speaker Marzuki Alie said on Wednesday that he was not concerned by the debate.

“I think it is not a problem if state officials reject ... the Crown sedans,” said Marzuki, who accepted the vehicle despite admitting that he preferred not to use it. “I often ride in my own Mercedes [instead],” he said.

On Monday, 150 state officials received new Toyota Crown Royal Saloons, valued at Rp 1.3 billion ($138,000) each, amid an outcry over such lavish spending as millions of Indonesians continue to languish in poverty.

Haryono Umar, deputy chairman of the antigraft commission, also known as the KPK, said he would use his old vehicle.

“Even though [the cars] are part of the state budget, the KPK leaders will not take them,” Haryono said on Tuesday evening. He suggested state officials should instead use Indonesian-made cars such as the Toyota Innova.

La Ode Ida, deputy speaker of the Regional Representative Council (DPD), agreed with Haryono, telling the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday that he too had opted not to use the new car, which has been compared to a limousine.

“I don’t think I deserve to drive a luxurious car while many people are still suffering,” said La Ode, adding that he would continue to drive his old Toyota Camry.

“The government needs to take into context that state officials are representatives of so many who are facing difficult conditions across Indonesia,” the former activist said.

Presidential spokesman Julian Adrian Pasha declined to comment on the KPK’s decision. “Ask the state secretary,” he said.

State Secretary Sudi Silalahi, in defending the purchases by the secretariat that he oversees, denied on Tuesday that the saloons were luxury cars, despite Toyota promoting them as such, describing the Crown as “the leader among luxury vehicles in Japan over more than half a century.”

The purchase of the sedans was approved by the House of Representatives as part of the 2010 budget.

Abdul Chalik Masulili, the Health Ministry’s director for Jamkesmas, a health security scheme for the poor, said the government had earmarked Rp 5,000 per person each month under the scheme. He said the money spent on a single Toyota Crown would be sufficient to provide health coverage for 21,667 poor people a year. At present, 76.4 million people are registered for Jamkesmas.

Despite having allocated money to upgrade the ministerial fleet, the government this October said about 16 million people were likely to lose their state health insurance due to a reported decline in the number of people living below the poverty level.

Roy Salam, a researcher at the Indonesia Budget Center, an NGO, said the provision of luxury cars did not conform with the public’s sense of justice and “drained” some Rp 106 billion from the state budget.

“The cost of 79 sedans is equivalent to the cost of providing free education to 184,000 secondary school students,” Roy said.