City back to normal ahead of Marriott bomb anniversary

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta

A shop attendant in a large shopping mall in Central Jakarta recalled that in the wake of the Marriott blast on Aug. 5, 2003, all the employees had been ordered to be alert and to closely monitor shoppers.

"If we saw a bag left unattended for more than five minutes, we would immediately alert the security guards, who would them check them," she said.

But the citywide tightening up of security prompted by the blast only lasted for a few months in most places.

The shocked city has now recovered from the trauma inflicted by the tragedy, which claimed 12 lives -- mostly taxi drivers, as well as a Dutch banker -- and injured 147 hotel guests and employees.

Jakartans got used to the security checks in shopping malls, office buildings, hotels and other public places. However, the checks were later relaxed in many places as they were considered too troublesome, and that the places in question would be unlikely to be targeted by terrorists.

A security guard at the Mal Ambassador, situated just across the road from the Mega Kuningan business district, South Jakarta, where the JW Marriott Hotel is also sited, said that checking every shopper would be impractical. "It is unlikely that an attack would be carried out by a bomber on foot," he said.

Many visitors to the mall also agreed that checking everyone entering the building would be excessively burdensome, if not impossible.

"I think checking everyone would be too much for the guards and would just be a nuisance for visitors, especially as this place is always crowded," said Alin, a shopper from Karet.

Andi, an attendant in a clothing store in the adjacent ITC Kuningan building, said that security precautions should not deter people from visiting public places.

"People should not be worried and bothered all the time by tight security measures, especially if the situation is getting back to normal by the day," he said.

Security is still tight, however, in many office buildings and five-star hotels, like the Jakarta Hilton International Hotel, the Shangri-La Hotel and the Hotel Borobudur, where security checks are still tight.

Security guards at the Marriott hotel itself still carefully search every visitor, down to the pennies in their pockets, to ensure the tightest possible security.

"We cannot afford to take any chances again," said one of the security guards.

Terrorists hit the Marriott hotel less than a year after the atrocious bombings on Oct. 12, 2002, of two nightclubs in Kuta beach, Bali, which killed 202 people, many of whom were foreigners.

A police investigation revealed that the bomb used in the Marriott blast had been carried in a Toyota Kijang minivan that drove up to the hotel's lobby entrance. It consisted of low- explosive black powder, a concoction of HMX, RDX and TNT high explosives, and gasoline, all of which resulted in a devastating blast.

The bomb was detonated by a remote device, but it is still unknown who actually pressed the button.

The bomb badly damaged the hotel's lobby, the Sailendra restaurant inside the hotel and the adjacent Plaza Mutiara building. It also produced a two-meter wide crater that pierced through the floor of the lobby down to the basement parking lot below.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar recently warned that some suspects accused of masterminding the Bali and Marriott bombings, who are still at large, have continued to recruit new followers and could launch new attacks at any time.

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