Yuli Krisna – Presidential guards were once again found wanting after the second security breach this week allowed a student protester to rush toward Vice President Boediono.

The incident occurred on Friday at Bandung's Siliwangi Stadium, where Boediono was attending a ceremony to mark the 83rd anniversary of the Youth Pledge.

In the middle of the event, a student, later identified as Ikbal Sabarudin, 21, broke into the middle of the stadium brandishing a poster criticizing the president and vice president for being weak on corruption.

He managed to approach to within 30 meters of Boediono before the presidential guards, known as Paspampres, tackled him to the ground. They proceeded to punch and kick him, even after they had restrained him.

The incident came after Monday's fiasco in which an unsuspecting gardener in Bali managed to breach three security perimeters and get to within five meters of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as his guards were watching an aerial acrobatics show.

He was pushing a bicycle with a sack containing his sickle, grass and some coconuts when he was tackled. In the aftermath of the scare, police dragged the hapless gardener, identified as I Nyoman Minta, through a show of force, interrogating him more than once.

But Col. Benny Effendi, a spokesman for the Siliwangi Military Command, which oversees operations in West Java, said Friday's incident did not constitute a security lapse on the part of officials because Ikbal was not an interloper.

"It was difficult to foresee the incident because the perpetrator was an officially invited guest like all the others," he said. Ikbal heads the West Java chapter of an Islamic student group under the auspices of the Indonesian National Youth Council (KNPI), Benny said.

He added that the student had been searched prior to entering the stadium. "He apparently had the poster rolled up and concealed in his clothing," he said.

Comr. Endang Sri Wahyu Utami, a spokeswoman for the Bandung Police, said Ikbal was badly bruised by the time he was taken into police custody from Paspampres and had received medical attention.

"Repressive action like that taken against Ikbal can be justified if the perpetrator poses a threat to others or themselves," Endang said.