All quiet in Jakarta on Christmas Day

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)