Alert centers to be permanent: Officials

JAKARTA (JP): Two senior officials said yesterday that the aim of the planned riot alert centers was not to solve transient problems but to be permanent establishments.

Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung and Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman separately denied speculation that the "alert command centers" are to be created to anticipate possible trouble in the upcoming general election.

"They're not being established only for the general election. They will remain in existence afterwards," Feisal said during the breaking-of-the-fast dinner at his official residence on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta.

Soesilo said the general election, scheduled for May 29, was not the reason for the establishment of the alert centers.

"We don't want to see this nation endangered by upheavals. Therefore we are making every effort to prevent them from happening," Soesilo said while hosting a similar breaking-of-the- fast ceremony at the Jakarta telecommunications office in South Jakarta.

He said he had no idea how long the alert centers might operate. "Let's just wait and see," he said.

Feisal said that the alert centers would be stationed in every one of the more than 240 district military commands nationwide.

"They will be run by the chiefs of the district military commands," he said, while reports drawn up by the centers on possible unrest will be brought to provincial administration council meetings.

He dismissed speculation that the alert centers would take over the role of the existing local security agency and the police, or replace the internal security agency or the Agency for Coordinating National Defense and Stability.

"The agency operates at the national and provincial levels, while the alert command centers would be posted in regencies and municipalities," he said.

"The alert centers will not take over the police's job either, as they will only deal with preventive measures. If the provincial administration council considers it necessary to take action, the center will forward its report to the police," he added.

Separately, Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Amir Syarifuddin said the alert centers would be established nationwide on Jan. 30.

The creation of the centers was first announced by President Soeharto last week when receiving managers of cooperatives owned by the Islamic boarding schools.

Soeharto said the establishment of such centers was necessary to prevent a recurrence of the riots that rocked the country over the past two years. (imn/amd)

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