Sleman – The first year and 100 days of the second term of the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and Vice President Boediono was marked by a student protest in the Sleman regency of Yogyakarta Special Province on Friday January 28.

The protesters demanded that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono resign for their failure to address numerous issues.

The action by scores of students from the Student Struggle Centre for National Liberation (Pembebasan) began at the Gadjah Mada University traffic circle with the burning of tyres and photographs of President Yudhoyono. The students also held a “walking backwards” action as a symbol of the country’s retreat under the SBY-Boediono administration.

The students said that the Yudhoyono administration, which has not changed, is like a loyal servant of capitalism that continues to undermine its own people’s quality of life.

Over the last year and 100 days, the Yudhoyono administration has failed to expel capitalism from Indonesia. This has been substantiated by the increasing cost of education, healthcare costs that are out of reach and the lack of prosperity for the ordinary people.

The students demanded that the Yudhoyono regime be replaced by an anti-capitalist government. (BJK/SHA)

[Translated by James Balowski.]