Thousands take to streets for world's anti-graft day in Indonesia

www.chinaview.cn 2009-12-09 15:45:47

JAKARTA, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of people staged in rallies across Indonesia on Wednesday to commemorate the World's anti-corruption day, as the Southeast Asia's largest economy has been battling against rampant corruption.

Students, religious groups, artists and other groups of communities marched in main streets in big cities nationwide, demanding seriousness of the government to fight graft. Some called for probe into an alleged corruption scandal at Bank Century.

It was speculated that a ruling party used the bail out funds worth 6.7 trillion-rupiah (some 710 million U.S. dollar) for the bank to finance presidential campaign recently. President Susilo rejected it and supported the investigation carried out by the parliament on it.

In Jakarta, thousands of people staged a rally outside the State Palace, parliament building and Anti-Corruption Commission office, they carried banners, chanting slogans of anti-corruption.

They demanded the country and the state institutions to be free from corruption.

"Clean The Country From Corruption," said a banner carried by a protesters outside the State Palace in Jakarta.

"Corruption is a crime against the people and state. Scandal of Bank Century must be revealed," said Din Syamsuddin, chairman of the country's second largest Muslim organization of Muhammadiyah.

"Indonesia must be cleaned from corruption," he added.

In some other cities, protesters involved in clashes with police, a local television reported.

A TV footage shows that students clashed with police in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province. The students threw stones at police and the police spread them by water canons.

Indonesia has struggled to fight rampant corruption, scores of officials have been sent to jail and undergone legal process for corruption charges.

The Corruption Eradication Commission has been at the front line in combating the graft.

President Susilo's administration has brought a progress in fighting corruption since 2004.

"Our index of perception of corruption by the Transparency International has increased now to 2.8 percent from 2.0 in 2008," said President Susilo on Tuesday night.

Thousands of policemen and soldiers have been deployed to secure the protests.

Some mall shopping centers have been closed in the capital of Jakarta for fears of possible riots.