Jakarta – Jakarta has been sunk by floods and the governor and deputy governor are at the salon. This was the theme taken up by scores of activists from the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI) during a demonstration in Jakarta on February 9.

They gave vent to their sadness over the floods by spraying mud on posters of Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso and Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo saying that the pair had failed to support the mandate of the Jakartan people.

Having venting their anger, the demonstrators moved off to the offices of the Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat in Central Jakarta, where they smeared a photograph of Aburizal Bakrie with mud.

The protesters said that Coordinating Minister Bakrie had no empathy with the people who have been hit by floods because he told the press that the mass media had exaggerated the floods in Jakarta and surrounding areas. Bakrie has still not shown any regret for or apologised over the statement.

[Translated by James Balowski.]