Jakarta police disperse student protests

There were scuffles between police and protesters

Indonesian police have fired water cannon on about 300 protesters who knocked down the gates of parliament after MPs ruled out an inquiry into a graft scandal.

The protesters, mostly students, pushed down the gates, which were weakened after being under repair, but were blocked by more than 100 police, witnesses said.

There were reports that at least two people were injured in scuffles.

Mr Tandjung has refused to quit politics

Earlier on Monday parliament rejected a motion to investigate its speaker, Akbar Tandjung, who is on trial accused of embezzling state funds.

Mr Tandjung, who also leads the country's second largest political party Golkar, is accused of helping divert about $4m from the state food agency Bulog to his party's 1999 election campaign.

The lower house speaker has been on trial since March. He took the stand for the first time last month to deny any wrongdoing.

Clean-up pledge

Protest groups fear Mr Tandjung will escape justice in Indonesia's notoriously corrupt legal system. They had hoped a parliamentary inquiry would at least have put pressure on Mr Tandjung to resign pending the trial verdict.

Mr Tandjung has so far survived the scandal, refusing to step down.

"We don't trust the legal process over Akbar Tandjung," said Teten Masduki, head of the Indonesian Corruption Watch. "We're hoping a political process can reveal the systemic problem in the country's management."

President Megawati Sukarnoputri took power last July promising to crack down on corruption and shake up the country's legal system.

There has been a spate of high-profile trials in recent months, verdicts in most cases have yet to be delivered.