Australia to move Jakarta Embassy following bombing

Australia to move Jakarta Embassy following bombing

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Australia plans to move its Jakarta embassy after the current
building was targeted by a deadly suicide bomb attack last week,
foreign minister Alexander Downer said on Monday.

The current 10-year-old building is too small and its location
on a busy road too dangerous, Downer, who visited Jakarta hours
after the bomb attack, said.

"We did invest over the past six years I suppose in a large
upgrade of the embassy's security which in the end of course has
saved a lot of lives," Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
radio.

"But we could find a better and more secure location than one
on a busy thoroughfare like that and with the embassy also
further set back than is the case at the moment."

The decision was made at a meeting of the Cabinet National
Security Committee on Saturday, he said.

A car bomb that exploded outside the gate of the embassy on
Thursday killed nine Indonesians and injured more than 180
others.

Prime Minister John Howard said the embassy was one of the
most heavily fortified in the world, which had prevented any
Australian casualties inside the building.

Downer said a time frame had not been set for the move and the
existing building would be repaired.

The Australian Consulate in Bali has remained closed since the
blast but continues to deal with urgent business, a Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said on the condition of
anonymity.

Staff will soon move into more secure rented premises while a
new consulate is built, she said.

A Jakarta spatial planning official said he was unaware of
Canberra's plan or request to move its current embassy from
Kuningan business district in South Jakarta.

"The Jakarta administration has set the Kuningan area for
diplomatic interests. If Australia wants to move its embassy, it
must be located in the area," head of city infrastructure
planning division Haryadi told The Jakarta Post.

He said according to the city master plan, all foreign
embassies located in the Central Jakarta upmarket area of Menteng
must move to Kuningan.

Haryadi added the Jakarta administration was processing a
proposal for a new building in Kuningan submitted by the British
Embassy. Its current building is located in Menteng.