City back to normal ahead of Marriott bomb anniversary
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.
Marriott -- Page 8