Agence France Presse

Jakarta, June 12:

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has offered a solution for Indonesians frustrated by bureaucratic red tape or inept officals — call him or send him a text message. Yudhoyono said his mobile phone would be available 24 hours a day for the public to voice their complaints. “If you think (government officials) don’t care, never come to you and your problems are left unsettled, my cellular phone is active 24 hours a day,” today’s Jakarta Post quoted Yudhoyono as saying. Speaking to a group of farmers and fishermen in a ceremony in West Java, Yudhoyono said the phone calls and text messages would serve as his “eyes and ears.” The number, however, was not reachable when contacted by AFP. A spokesman for Yudhoyono, Dino Pati Jalal, said the number belonged to a group of Yudhoyono’s assistants who “monitor the incoming calls and messages” and relay them to the president.