A bid by Indonesia's first directly elected president to be closer to his people by publicizing his mobile phone number backfires over the weekend, after thousands of calls crashed the line.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced the number on Saturday saying anyone could call or send text messages if they wanted to complain about government services. By Monday, Indonesian newspapers were carrying stories of people complaining they couldn't get through.

Local media report more than 3,000 calls to the number.

Yudhoyono says, "The number is now clogged and cannot be used anymore."

A spokesman adds, "There should be five more numbers, but we need to install a new computerized system first."