Bandung (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Students from the Bandung Institute of Technology staged a rally here on Monday to demand the government do more to fight malnutrition in the country.

During the demonstration, they said recent reports about malnourished children only represented the tip of the iceberg; in their view, many more children than had been reported by the media are suffering from the condition.

Syaiful Anam, who chairs a student organisation at the institute, described the presence of malnutrition in Indonesia as a preventable tragedy that was in sharp contrast to the comfortable lifestyles of top officials and lawmakers.

"This is happening amid endemic corruption among officials and, ironically, [it] is taking place despite continual economic growth," he said.

"The plight of our poor does not discourage others from living in luxury, and the inability of some people to afford basic foods does not reduce the number of malls being built in big cities," Syaiful added.