Kendari – Hundreds of students from various universities staged a protest on Tuesday at the Southeast Sulawesi legislative council building, where its 45 new members were being sworn in.

The protesters urged the new council members to be "more sensitive" with local people's affairs.

"In the past five years, the (outgoing) council members didn't pay any attention to the people's interests. They preferred to collaborate with executive bodies. So, they allocated a smaller share of the budget to public affairs than to the administration," protest coordinator Yusuf said.

Around 70 percent of this year's Rp 1.2 trillion budget for Southeast Sulawesi was allotted to administrative spending, he said. This, Yusuf added, led to a 20 percent increase in the province's poverty rate.

Around 435,000 of the province's 2.2 million residents are now considered poor.