Churchgoers not put off by warnings

Churchgoers not put off by warnings

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police's decision to step up security over Easter on
Sunday by deploying about 16,000 officers throughout Jakarta
provided some comfort to churchgoers concerned by recent travel
advisories warning of possible terror attacks over the weekend.

"More security makes people feel safer," said Fransz Laug, 69,
who was preparing to attend a Saturday Easter Vigil in South
Jakarta. "If I don't attend church, the terrorists have
accomplished their goal."

A German-born naturalized Indonesian, Laug, who has been
living in the country for 40 years, added that he thought the
presence of security officers "psychologically" deterred
terrorists from carrying out their atrocities.

The sizable deployment, which represents two-thirds of the
city's police force, was set guarding 647 churches around the
capital during Christianity's holiest day.

Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said that the deployment,
which was on a par with the one deployed during Christmas, had
been on alert since 4 p.m. on Thursday.

The vicar of All Saints' Anglican Church in Menteng, Central
Jakarta, the Reverend Dale Appleby, said that despite the
heightened security, he thought that some parishioners would not
attend services due to the travel advisories, which were issued
by a number of foreign governments, including the United States
and Japan.

"They tend to be people who are new to Jakarta," said Appleby,
who has headed the church, founded in 1819, for the past two
years. "The other foreigners are accustomed to the threats and I
don't think they'll react any differently this time."

Laug, a Catholic who regularly attends church with his wife,
agreed with Appleby.

"If you follow all these warnings, you would stay at home all
the time," said Laug. "I have faith in God and in the Indonesian
people."

The travel advisories, issued firstly by the United States
Embassy on Thursday, warned of possible terrorist threats "over
the Easter holiday period" and urged people to avoid targets such
as "restaurants, shopping malls, schools, places of worship, or
any other locations where Westerners congregate."

A series of deadly terror attacks have shaken Indonesia over the past
years, with church bombings killing a total of 14 people on
Christmas Eve 2000, followed by the Bali bombings of 2002, which
claimed 202 lives, the 2003 Marriott hotel explosion that killed
13 people and last year's blast in front of the Australian
Embassy, which killed 11.

Appleby, in whose church an unexploded bomb was found at the
time of the 2000 church bombings, said that in the end
"Christians that go to Church have to trust their lives in God's
hands."

"The fact that someone could get killed for attending church,
just deepens our faith and patience," said Appleby. (002)