North Maluku students demonstrated outside the Ternate mayor's office on Monday demanding the resignation of Deputy Mayor Arifin Djafar after he was recently photographed clubbing in a local nightclub.

Demonstration coordinator Lukman Esa said the deputy mayor had violated the code of ethics. His act was seen as an even bigger disgrace considering that the Ternate administration has been busy in its efforts to eliminate prostitution and the distribution of alcohol.

"That is why we ask, with all due respect, that Arifin Djafar steps down," Lukman said Monday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He said that Arifin had spoiled the reputation of Ternate, which was known to be a religious, cultural and courteous city. For that, Arifin must apologize to the people of the city.

"We feel hurt. If a public official is setting a bad example, always breaching ethics, how are the people expected to trust the administration?" he said.

The students also demanded that the administration issue a policy that bans public officials from entering nightclubs.

Arifin insisted that he was in the nightclub for professional reasons as he was accompanying a guest from the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry.