Markus Junianto Sihaloho – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has lashed out at critics he says are interfering with his government's ability to implement and run its policies.

Speaking in front of industry executives, state-enterprise directors and ministers during an event at the Ministry of Industry on Saturday, the president called on the public to support him in his last year of leadership and dismissed those who appear to be interfering with his efforts.

"If you cannot help me as a president, then do not interfere. If you interfere, it becomes impossible to carry out [government programs]," he said.

Golkar Party politician Bambang Soesatyo, a legislator from House Commission III that oversees legal affairs, said the police should be permitted to silence critical voices if the interests of the state were being compromised.

"The law enforcement institutions should also act if the state and the public are being aggrieved by those attempting to disrupt the government's performance," he said. "I am under the impression that the president has evidence of the various disturbances conducted against his government, including the perpetrators' identities."

Bambang said that Yudhoyono may have been holding back from making public accusations, but added it would be "outrageous" if the president's comments were merely a tactic to divert from his government's failure.

"If the statements [Yudhoyono was referring to] were in fact mere provocations he is citing to build a facade atop the government's failure to manage the country, then that is outrageous," said Bambang.

Not all politicians agreed that the president's objection to criticism was reasonable.

Deputy chair of the National Mandate Party, Dradjad Wibowo, said on Sunday that Yudhoyono had exaggerated, noting that criticizing the government cannot be categorized as intererence. Instead he described it as a "check and a balance to push the government's performance."

Dradjad added that Yudhoyono had merely received harsh comments and that there have been no serious instances that could be considered as interference or a damaging political move against the government.

"I lived for nine years in a western democratic country. The harsh words raised today [against the government] are nothing compared to those in western countries," he said, adding that Indonesia's politicians face no serious risk of violence, as they do in Pakistan. "The way I see it, it's quite light, nothing that should be debated," he said.

Dradjad, who is an economist, said government performance regarding national economic issues such as the trade deficit, inflation and interest rates were legitimate targets for criticism and snide remarks. "In my view, those are the interferences Yudhoyono refers to," he said.

In April this year plans resurfaced to reinstate criminal charges for insulting the president or vice president that were previously struck from the Criminal Code in 2006 on the grounds that they were unconstitutional. Some legislators at the time came out in support of the move.

Nurhayati Ali Assegaf, the chairwoman of Yudhoyono's Democratic Party in the House of Representatives, argued a rise in demonstrations against the president had gotten out of hand – with protesters burning his picture – and that some semblance of order was needed.