KRjogja.com
- September 4, 2009
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.]
