Jakarta – A group of activists Friday burned caricatures of former president Suharto, his family and close associates in front of parliament, to protest their alleged involvement in bank scams and graft. Some 100 activists, mostly students, from six organisations first demonstrated at the attorney general's office, which is investigating allegations of bank fraud, before taking their protest to the parliament.

The protestors carried pictures or caricatures of Suharto, several of his children and close business associates, including former trade and industry minister Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, who they accused of involvement in the misuse of state liquidity credits channeled to help their ailing banks. "Suharto ...Bring to justice and hang the oppressor," said one poster carrying the caricature of the face of the former president.

Other posters showed Suharto's daughter Siti Hardiyanti "Tutut" Rukamana and his second eldest son Bambang Trihatmojo whom police have said they would question over suspicion of misuse of state credits injected into his Bank Andromeda. Suharto's cousin Sudwikatmono and several leading bankers and business tycoons were also depicted in several other posters carried by the group.

The group in a statement called on the authorities to "arrest and bring to trial all bankers involved in the use of Bank Indonesia liquidity credits totalling 150 trillion rupiah (14.3 billion dollars) without discrimination."

Central Bank Indonesia liquidity credits had been injected into several banks, both state-owned and private, as part of the government's drive to restore health to the country's ailing banking system. Many have accused bankers of misusing the credits to fund affiliated businesses.

Authorities have barred some 90 bank executives from traveling abroad and have arrested at least 24 of them over suspicion of violation of the banking rules. The national police are in the process of investing bank executives to find cases of misuse of state liquidity credits.

The protestors also said Bank Indonesia officials and the finance minister should also be investigated over the liquidity credits. They ended their protest by burning the pictures and caricatures.