Detik.com
- July 1, 2009
A hundred or
so people from the Volunteers of People’s Struggle for the Liberation of
Motherland (SPARTAN) demonstrated at the General Election Commission (KPU)
offices in Central Jakarta on Wednesday July 1. They were demanding that the
KPU disqualify neoliberal presidential and vice presidential candidates.
The action
created traffic congestion on Jl. Imam Bonjol in the direction the Hotel
Indonesia roundabout because the demonstrators used one shoulder of the road.
Traffic in the other direction however was not disrupted and the KPU was
closely guarded by scores of police officers.
As they
demonstrated, SPARTAN members shouted protests such as “SBY [incumbent
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] is a neoliberal, Boediono [Yudhoyono’s
running mate] is a neoliberal, all of them are neoliberal! The debt accumulates
every year, come on, let’s reject the neoliberal presidential and vice
presidential candidates!”.
In addition
to giving speeches, they also brought banners with messages such as “Reject
neoliberal the presidential and vice presidential candidates” and “Big debts,
why do they claim not to be neoliberal”. Posters with caricatures of Yudhoyono
and Boediono were also brought by protesters.
“[We are]
calling on the KPU to disqualify neoliberal presidential and vice presidential
candidates,” said SPARTAN spokesperson Agus Priyono from atop a truck.
Housewives
reject SBY-Boediono
Around two
hundred housewives also demonstrated against SBY-Boediono in the South Sulawesi
provincial capital of Makassar on Wednesday saying that they are lackeys of
foreign capital and neoliberalism, and that their development programs have
failed to side with the poor.
The
demonstration by a group calling itself SPARTAN was held on the grounds of the South
Sulawesi regional KPU offices.
“That
SBY-Boediono are neoliberal lackeys is already clear with the high cost of
education and healthcare. Their policies provide opportunities to foreign
capitalists to reap profits from Indonesia’s natural wealth and blur the
people’s eyes with BLT [direct case assistance program] and KUR [credit for
small and medium enterprises]”, said Daeng Baji, one of the action coordinators
in a speech.
The
demonstrators also said up until now Boediono’s policies have not sided with
the poor, both when he the coordinating minister for the economy as well as
when he was the governor of the central bank.
As well has
holding speeches, the demonstrators also brought black coloured banners with
messages written in white such as “Reject neoliberalism”, “Abolish the foreign
debt” and “Form a National Coalition Government”.
According to
Detik’s observations, not a few of the protests brought children with
them, and not all of them appeared to be listening seriously to the political
speeches being given. A number even elected instead to seek shade on the side
of the road because of the intense heat.
[Slightly
abridged translation by James Balowski from two reports carried by Detik.com on
July 1.]
