3,000 police officials, diplomats

Abdul Khalik and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As a response to a warning by the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) that terrorist groups might shift targets to high-ranking officials and foreign diplomats, Jakarta Police have deployed 3,000 officers with specific tasks to guard the officials and their relatives.

Chief of operations at city police Sr. Comr. Komang Udayana said that the officers, taken from the 17,350 policemen deployed to secure Christmas celebrations, have started work to watch over the possible targets.

"We want to anticipate any possibility of threats so we specifically set up small teams to guard high-ranking officials and their family members. One or two officers will monitor their house while several others will guard them personally."

He said that security was also tightened around most of the embassy buildings and residences of foreign diplomats across the city.

General crime unit chief Moh. Jaelani added that more detectives and intelligence personnel had also been deployed to monitor residences of high-ranking officials, diplomats and foreigners.

"These security measures are part of operations to secure Christmas and New Year so we already have a budget for that. We won't charge (extra money) to the people we guard," he told The Jakarta Post.

BIN director Syamsir Siregar warned last week that the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) may be upgrading its tactics from suicide bombings to abductions or killings of high-ranking officials and foreigners over the Christmas-New Year period in major cities across the sprawling archipelago, especially Jakarta.

JI has unleashed five suicide bombers targeting what was believed to be Western interests since 2002 here, killing more than 240 people.

Police officers killed on Nov. 9 Azahari bin Husin, the group's bomb expert, in a raid on his hideout in Batu, East Java.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani had warned that Azahari's accomplice Noordin M. Top and JI's new recruits could try to retaliate to avenge Azahari's death.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono confirmed on Tuesday that the presidential guards has stepped up security amid warnings that terrorists may be planning to assassinate or kidnap him.

"My security profile has been raised as a result of this threat," he was quoted as saying by Associated Press during his visit to Aceh, where he was attending ceremonies marking the one- year anniversary of the tsunami.

"I will keep doing my daily tasks and routines, there will be no change there," the President said, refusing to elaborate on the tightened security measures.

Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng has said that the presidential guards has increased security protection for the first family as well.

He added that the President had been asked to reduce his presence in public, especially events that enable people to touch him, and not to open his car window to wave to the crowd.

Since last week, the presidential guards have made several changes, one of which was to assign officers the same height or taller than the President (over 1.8 meters).

At the presidential palace, the security measures remain the same where people are assigned to leave their names, addresses and ID cards at the first gate before entering the second gate to the palace compound.