Jakarta – A group of white collar workers marched in central Jakarta Thursday demanding that the government suspend income taxes if it cannot control spiralling inflation. The 30 office workers marched down the sidewalk of the main Thamrin street waving placards reading "Lower prices," and "We should not subsidize the rich," witnesses said.

Other posters made direct references to alleged human rights abuses by the military during the regime of ousted president Suharto and to the apparent lack of security during the May riots here. "We pay for your uniforms, but where were you in May," read one sign. "Our taxes are not for killers and kidnappers," read another, refering to the kidnapping and torture of political activists in which the military has admitted involevment.

Consumer prices have soared almost 70 percent in the first eight months of the year in Indonesia where the deepening financial crisis is throwing thousands out of work daily as businesses collapse. A few police watched the demonstrators as they marched through lunchtime crowds, but there was no attempt to intervene, an AFP reporter said.