'Christmas brings us together'

'Christmas brings us together'

Media reports on travel advisories warning foreigners against
visiting Indonesia amid the discovery of crude homemade bombs
early in December and another on Friday have made people
concerned over possible bomb attacks at Christmas. The Jakarta
Post asked some Jakarta residents how they dealt with the issue.

Egi, 30, works at a private company in Gelora subdistrict,
Central Jakarta:

Well, I have no special preparations to celebrate Christmas
this year because I live in a boarding house.

I am also not going to my hometown in eastern Indonesian this
year because of the bad weather.

Reports on possible bomb attacks have made me worry a bit. My
friends in the office share the feeling. One of them jokingly
said that "I will only go to a church which had already been
bombed in previous years".

I will go to a church in Central Jakarta at Christmas, but I
have not decided which one. But I will choose a church that is
unlikely to be bombed.

Apart from considering the location of church I will visit, I
will also consider the time when I must go. I will go to the
church at a time that is less risky, like in the morning.

Anita, 28, works in an advertising agency. She lives with her
parents in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta:

I still remember the time when Christmas was peaceful, when we
went to church for midnight mass without having to be guarded by
dozens of policemen and soldiers.

I can't understand why now we have to take extra precautions
just to go to the church at Christmas and New Year's Eve. I'm
tired of listening to my mother nagging us to arrive at church at
a particular time and to promise her not to go to any other place
but to go straight home.

I know she's worried about our safety with the bomb threats
and all, but I just want her not to be that paranoid.

Christmas always brings us together. That is the time I yearn
for the whole year, when all of my siblings who live far from us,
plus my nieces and nephews, will gather at home just like when we
were children.

-- The Jakarta Post