Protest rally spoils Susilo's 56th birthday

Protest rally spoils Susilo's 56th birthday

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It might not have been the kind of birthday present that
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono wished for, but nonetheless
hundreds of protesters, led by former President Abdurrahman "Gus
Dur" Wahid, staged a rally against his Aceh policy on Friday.

While modestly celebrating his 56th birthday with his
ministers before the start of a Cabinet meeting, Gus Dur, along
with a group of demonstrators held a protest outside the
Presidential Palace.

The protesters demanded that Susilo revoke the recently signed
Memorandum of Understanding with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM),
claiming that the deal would eventually lead to independence for
Aceh.

The protesters, calling themselves the National Forum of Young
Indonesians (FKPI), also demanded the replacement of Susilo's
economic ministers to resolve the current economic problems.

Earlier in the morning, Susilo, a retired army general and
first directly elected president, was greeted with calls of
"happy birthday" from hundreds of local athletes during a
commemoration of National Sports Day at the Senayan Sports
Stadium in South Jakarta.

After arriving at the Palace looking a tad weary, Susilo was
welcomed by dozens of members of the presidential press corps who
sang "happy birthday" to him.

In front of the crowd, Susilo said that he was grateful for
having a free press here that could criticize freely against his
administration as a means of checks and balances.

"I hope the press can remain watchful and independent as we
live in this democratic nation...," said the father of two who
was born in Pacitan, East Java, while adding that he was now
facing a daunting task to bring the country up after the impact
of surging global oil prices.

Meanwhile, State Minister of Information and Communications
Sofyan Djalil said that the President did not hold any party to
celebrate his birthday.