Yogyakarta – Scores of protesters from the National Student League for Democracy-Politics of the Poor (LMND-PRM) held a protest action at the Gajah Mada University traffic circle on Friday September 4.

The action was held because the protesters believe that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and Vice President elect Boediono are continuing to bring suffering to and failing to think about the lives of the ordinary people.

LMND-PRM Yogyakarta chairperson Ika Pratiwi said that the concepts of neoliberalism, capitalism, neocolonialism are clearly and concretely being pursued by Yudhoyono and Boediono.

“How is it that now the cost of education from kindergarten up to tertiary education keeps getting more expensive and out of reach. How is it also that up until now the products produced by the SBY administration are in fact so transparently bringing suffering to the ordinary people,” she told the protesters.

Indonesia’s foreign debt over the last five years of the Yudhoyono administration, continued Pratiwi, has also risen by hundreds of trillions of rupiah, so this is considered something quite unnatural.

The national debt has now reached 1,600 trillion rupiah, far bigger than during the previous New Order period of former President Suharto. “Because of this therefore, the SBY-Boediono regime will only continue the people’s suffering”, added Pratiwi.

During the free-speech forum, the scores of demonstrators drew lines on their faces with red paint as a symbol of resistance against oppression.

In addition to giving speeches, they also handed out leaflets to pedestrians and road users and erected banners with the writing “The SBY-Boediono administration are capitalist-neoliberal agents”. (Dhi)

[Translated by James Balowski.]