Kasparman, Padang – Thousands of protesters expressed on Wednesday their support of a government plan to dismiss the current management of state cement maker PT Semen Padang, lending fresh backing to the company's privatization efforts.

Grouped under the Forum for the People of Padang (FPM-KP), the demonstrators said the current management was corrupt and lacked commitment to the local community.

The massive protest followed a three-year dispute between Jakarta and local politicians opposing the sale of Semen Padang. Efforts to sell Semen Padang to Mexican cement company Cemex SA since 1998 came to nothing largely because of local opposition.

The government plans to replace the management at Semen Padang amid suspicion they silently back anti-privatization protests. "Semen Padang's management is dividing our people, pitting them against one another," said FPM-KP chairman Zaharman.

FPM-KP refrained to state its support or opposition in the planned sale of Semen Padang. However its protest marked the first to support Semen Padang's reshuffle.

People from three regencies, Lubuk Kilangan, Lubuk Bagalung and Puah, rallied in front of the provincial legislature to call on politicians to back their demands.

Last month however Padang's legislature saw thousands rallying against the planned reshuffle and the privatization of Semen padang. The government has yet to decide when it would replace the company's directors as the move calls for an extraordinary general shareholders meeting.

Semen Padang and PT Semen Tonasa are units of the publicly listed Semen Gresik Group in which the government owns a 51 percent stake. In 1998 it sold Cemex a 24 percent stake in Semen Gresik with the promise to sell off another 51 percent stake by October last year.

Cemex' deal however fell through amid threats by locals to take over Semen Padang, and Semen Gresik workers throwing their weight against the privatization plan. Reasoning that Semen Padang symbolized the province's pride, protesters urged the government to first spin off Semen Padang from Semen Gresik if it wanted to sell the latter.

Last month, 15 mayors and regents lent their support to the spin off call in a letter to President Megawati Soekarnoputri. But critics warned of vested interests hijacking the protests by stirring up anti-foreign sentiments.

They said state companies were prone to becoming cash cows of political parties and said Semen Padang was no exception. The company is believed to be suffering financial losses because of alleged corruption. A letter signed by Semen Padang's president Ikhdan Nizar this year said the company had to cut payment of its employees to finance the spin off campaign.