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Thousands of protesters are scheduled to hold anticorruption demonstrations across the country throughout the week beginning today, with hundreds bracing themselves to face 2,000 police officers deployed to secure the Asian Parliamentary Assembly in Bandung, West Java.

The protests were planned as a show of force designed to remind President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of his promise to rid the country’s institutions of corruption.

Yudhoyono is scheduled to attend the two-day APA meeting, which will feature 56 delegates from 16 countries gathered to discuss vital issues including efforts to crack down on terrorism.

The meeting is expected to serve as an important moment in strengthening Asia’s solidarity in stamping out terrorist organizations.

Student organizations in Bandung, including the Indonesian Muslim Students Association (HMI), the Bandung Institute of Technology’s Students Organization (KM ITB) and the Student Executive Body (BEM), have declared their readiness to protest against Yudhoyono at the APA meeting this week.

“We want him to concentrate on corruption investigations involving the bailout money used to rescue Bank Century. He shouldn’t be attending the Asian Parliamentary Assembly,” HMI Bandung chief Firman Sabar said on Monday.

Protesters have said Yudhoyono was reelected because the general public believed he was willing and ready to eradicate corruption.

They said they never expected police to launch investigations against the deputy chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which has had a successful record of prosecuting corrupt officials, including former central bank deputy governor Aulia Pohan, an in-law of Yudhoyono.

As a result, thousands of protesters were ready to begin demonstrations to demand Yudhoyono explain why the country spent Rp 6.7 trillion ($710 million) to bail out a small, poorly managed bank when millions of Indonesians were falling constantly further below the poverty line.

Their protests will come as the House of Representatives and the KPK prepare to launch fresh investigations into the Bank Century scandal.

Protesters also have demanded the president crack down on the so-called judicial mafia, responsible for collusion within the nation’s judiciary. JG, Antara