All quiet in Jakarta on Christmas Day
JAKARTA (JP): In hectic Jakarta, a city that never sleeps, Christians peacefully attended church services on Christmas Eve and celebrated Christmas yesterday.
Tranquility ruled and masses went well-attended throughout the sprawling metropolitan. No serious jams were seen, except at churches where thousands gathered, and police recorded no fatal traffic accidents.
At the Jakarta Cathedral, located in Banteng Square, about a thousand gathered to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at their evening mass. The cathedral, which is the largest church in the city, was surrounded by hundreds of cars crammed into makeshift parking spaces.
Traffic was not as ugly on Saturday. In South Jakarta, earlier in the day main roads such as Jl. Panglima Polim, Jl. R.S. Fatmawati, Jl. Ciputat Raya, Jl. Lebak Bulus, were almost deserted.
Some hospitals officials here said their burdens had been reduced and that their emergency units were not so busy.
"Our emergency unit is almost vacant and we've had only one patient, who suffered a heart attack," nurse Carmeni of Persahabatan Hospital, East Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
Meanwhile Renta Pasaribu, the admission official of the Indonesian Christian University (UKI) hospital in East Jakarta, said that there were nine patients who were treated there for various troubles but that none needed serious treatment.
"Among them, one person fell from a speeding bus. But he is all right," Pasaribu said.
The emergency unit at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta had received seven traffic accident victims as of Saturday midnight.
"But none of them are in serious condition," said Muja Fahrudin, one of the hospital's admission officials.
Meanwhile Rusmana, the day-to-day chief of the National Search and Rescue (SAR) Agency, told the Post that there have not been any calls for help since Saturday.
"And I hope everything will stay that way," Rusmana said.
He also said that Transportation Minister Haryanto Dhanutirto, who was accompanied by Director General of Land Transportation Soejono, was flying with an SAR helicopter to supervise the transportation situation in the city over the weekend.
Though the hospitals, SAR officials and motorists could enjoy the Christmas holidays in peace, the South and East Jakarta fire brigades had to work hard yesterday.
Fire
A furniture studio, a house in East Jakarta and another house in the south were razed by fire on that day.
Supandi, a member fire brigade of South Jakarta, said that fire damaged the roof of a house on Jl. Bangka, South Jakarta, at 01.00 p.m. yesterday.
"I believe the fire was caused by a short circuit. There were no casualties and financial losses were only estimated at Rp 5 million (US$2,280)," he said.
Meanwhile Sumarso from the East Jakarta Fire Department said there were two fires in his area. The first one occurred at 02:00 p. m. on Jl. Cijantung II and the second one, which took place about 35 minutes later, razed the furniture studio on Jl. Pahlawan Revolusi.
Sumarso could not give more details about the second fire since fire fighters were still working hard when he spoke to the Post.
Police officers from all sectors of the city also said that all was quiet on all fronts yesterday. "Thank God there was nothing serious today," said Second Lt. Saminto of North Jakarta Police Office. Similar statements were repeated by police officers from Central, South East and West Jakarta. (mas)