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No Bull: Yudhoyono's Four-Legged Nemesis Banned
An unsuspecting water buffalo has been thrust yet again into the political spotlight after the Jakarta Police on Wednesday resolved to ban his appearance, and that of any other animal, in protests.
The move came a day after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono claimed that demonstrators were implying that he, like the water buffalo, was “big, lazy and stupid.”
“Who will guarantee the safety of both the demonstrators and passersby if, somehow, the water buffalo decided to run into the crowd?” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said, adding that city police were banning the use of animals in protests as a public safety measure.
“What happens if suddenly the animal experiences stress from all the noise and the crowds?” he said.
On Wednesday, the same buffalo that offended the president when it appeared at a rally on Jan. 28 protesting the first 100 days of Yudhoyono’s second term in office, was scheduled to make a return to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta.
However police stopped the truck transporting the animal — named “Si Lebay,” slang for a person who overacts — from Bekasi and said the water buffalo, which had a photo of Yudhoyono on its back, was not allowed to join the rally because it would disturb public order.
An unsuspecting water buffalo has been thrust yet again into the political spotlight after the Jakarta Police on Wednesday resolved to ban his appearance, and that of any other animal, in protests.
The move came a day after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono claimed that demonstrators were implying that he, like the water buffalo, was “big, lazy and stupid.”
“Who will guarantee the safety of both the demonstrators and passersby if, somehow, the water buffalo decided to run into the crowd?” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said, adding that city police were banning the use of animals in protests as a public safety measure.
“What happens if suddenly the animal experiences stress from all the noise and the crowds?” he said.
On Wednesday, the same buffalo that offended the president when it appeared at a rally on Jan. 28 protesting the first 100 days of Yudhoyono’s second term in office, was scheduled to make a return to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta.
However police stopped the truck transporting the animal — named “Si Lebay,” slang for a person who overacts — from Bekasi and said the water buffalo, which had a photo of Yudhoyono on its back, was not allowed to join the rally because it would disturb public order.
