Madura, East Java – Fifteen activists from the Indonesian Muslim Student Movement (PMII) in Sumenep, Madura, East Java, began a hunger strike Tuesday night, Antara reported Wednesday.

The activists protested the deliberation of the Sumenep budget by the local legislative council, saying that the budget would legalize spending to benefit local officials.

"Based on our study, the current deliberation results in a budget that prioritizes the interests of public officials rather than the general public," PMII Sumenep chairman Adi Purnomo told Antara.

For example, Adi said there was a Rp 127 million (US$13,000) budget under the heading of "Public Interest Spending". However, after some scrutiny, much of the money would go to public officials and only a tiny portion to the public.

Of the total Rp 127 million budget, Rp 6 million would be used for office utensils, Rp 22.3 million for transport allowance for public officials, Rp 84 million for per diem allowance of public officials and only Rp 14.5 million to the public.

Adi said the hunger strike would continue until at least Thursday when the local legislative council was scheduled to officially approve the budget, which totals more than Rp 900 billion.