President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono looked set to lose his temper Friday as rival parties continued to accuse him of spending state funds on programs assisting the poor just to boost his popularity.

Speaking to thousands of Democratic Party supporters gathered at Gasibu Square in Bandung, Yudhoyono said he would continue rolling out the programs if he won a second term.

"Some say the direct-cash assistance programs teach people to beg. We are saddened that our people are likened to beggars. They have dignity and are not corrupt, therefore they deserve assistance," said Yudhoyono, the party's chief patron.

Earlier Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) secretary general Pramono Anung suggested Yudhoyono's party was politicizing the program to win voter sympathy.

"It would be sinful for the government to exploit poverty for their short-term political interests," he said.

As of this week, the government began the third phase of the program which involves distributing Rp 23 trillion to almost 19 million of the nation's poorest people.

The program was launched in June last year when the cost of oil increased as world crude prices hit US$140 per barrel.

Yudhoyono said his government had initiated programs to assist the poor long before the election year began.

In West Java alone the government has provided free access to healthcare to 4.3 million people and distributed Rp 1 trillion for infrastructure projects in villages across the province.

Yudhoyono rushed to Bandung after visiting victims of the landslide in Tangerang, south of Jakarta, which left more than 50 dead.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla, also Golkar Party chairman, led the government response to the disaster, allowing Yudhoyono, who was on leave for campaign duties, to meet his party constituents.

Hopes were high that Yudhoyono would directly listen to the ambitions and needs of his constituents. A woman, wearing a Democratic Party T-shirt and bracelet, shouted in vain to speak with Yudhoyono.

Eva Hoerayani drove 50 kilometers from her hometown Purwakarta to inform Yudhoyono of the mass dismissal of 5,000 contractual employees from the Finance Ministry, including herself, in 2007.

"I wanted to meet directly with SBY so he could listen to our ordeal," she said.

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