Makassar – Students from the Makassar State University (UNM) held a protest action rejecting the Prabowo Subianto administration's plan to increase the value added tax (VAT) rate to 12 percent by blocking the road in front of the university campus.
The students also set fire to used tyres and detained a container truck which was used as platform to hold a free speech forum. As a result, there was a long traffic jam on Jalan AP Pettarani in Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi (Sulsel).
"Reject the increase in VAT to 12 percent. The tax increase will bring suffering to the ordinary people", said one of the speakers at the rally on Thursday December 26.
The students then demand that the rule of law in Indonesia must be enforced. They even asked that Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani be removed from her post in the aftermath of the VAT increase policy.
"Sack the finance minister and realise free education in Indonesia", they asserted.
The students also demanded that President Prabowo Subianto immediately eradicate the various corruption cases that have occurred up until now. "We challenge the president of the Republic of Indonesia to eradicate KKN [corruption, collusion and nepotism] in Indonesia", they concluded.
According to CNN Indonesia's observations, there was a long traffic jam on Jalan AP Pettarani in the direction of Jalan Sultan Alauddin. Police at the location could be seen monitoring and safeguarding the action so that it proceeded in a safe an orderly manner. (mir/DAL)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Tolak PPN 12 Persen, Mahasiswa di Makassar Sandera Truk dan Bakar Ban".]
