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A statement made by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s spokesman and campaign team member Andi Mallarangeng sparked protests in Makassar on Thursday.

During a campaign session of Yudhoyono’s vice presidential candidate Boediono there on Wednesday, Andi allegedly said it was not yet time for the country to be led by a member of the Bugis ethnic group, the predominant ethnicity in South Sulawesi. He allegedly also said that two Javanese — Yudhoyono and Boediono — were the best choices to lead the country.

The comments were denied by Andi, who is already the focus of criticism from various sources for the perceived power wielded by himself and his brothers, Rizal and Zulkaranen, also known as Choel, within the Yudhoyono campaign team.

Hundreds of people on Thursday protested in front of the headquarters of the South Sulawesi chapter of the Democratic Party in Makassar .

The number of protesters quickly swelled to thousands of people, demanding that Andi and Yudhoyono apologize to the people of South Sulawesi for what they said was a degrading statement.

Hundreds of police officers had to be deployed to assure the protest did not become violent.

“The Mallarangeng brothers have defamed South Sulawesi’s people with [Andi’s] unethical statement,” said Sugali, who led the rally. “We will not stop rallying until SBY and the Mallarangeng brother apologize to the South Sulawesi people,” he said, referring to Yudhoyono by his popular initials.

Andi himself is a member of the Bugis ethnic group.

Idrus Paturusi, the rector of the Hasanuddin University who also chairs the South Sulawesi chapter of the Rectors’ Forum, said Andi’s statement was “racist” and degraded the people of South Sulawesi.

“The statement is dangerous and could damage South Sulawesi’s unity,” he said, adding that Andi must apologize and retract his statement.

Andi allegedly made the statement in an apparent effort to explain to the people of Makassar why he and his brothers had thrown their support behind Yudhoyono and Boediono, rather than behind the candidacy of Vice President Jusuf Kalla, a respected Bugis figure.

Poempida Hidayatulloh, a spokesperson for Kalla’s campaign team, also demanded an apology from Andi for his statement, which he said had offended South Sulawesians and Kalla. “We demand Andi apologize to Pak Jusuf Kalla,” he said.

Poempida said that all people, regardless of their ethnicity, had an obligation to make Indonesia a better nation.

“It’s a shame if someone is still being discriminative and judging people based on their ethnicity,” he said, adding that he regretted Andi bringing up such a sensitive issue.

He said that Andi’s statement “contradicted Yudhoyono’s request for people campaign ethical ly.”

In Jakarta, Andi denied that he had made such a statement.

“What I said during the campaign in Makassar was related to whether a South Sulawesi person could become the country’s president. [They] could and many South Sulawesi people could become the nation’s leaders but there will be time for that,” he said.

“Now, for 2009 to 2014, the best [candidates] are SBY and Boediono. ”

State news agency Antara quoted Andi as having said “How about the people of Sulawesi? There will be time. The future lies ahead and many South Sulawesi people will lead this nation one day.”

Andi’s brother Rizal is already at odds with the Kalla camp for demanding that Kalla apologize for an incident in Medan, where a news report accusing Boediono’s wife of being a Catholic was circulate d.

Kalla’s camp has said that the vice president had no knowledge of the incident and have demanded that Rizal apologize.