City police list atrisk venues for Christmas, New Year
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In an effort to ensure Christmas and the New Year pass off peacefully in Greater Jakarta, the city police are drawing up an inventory of all churches and places of worship that will be used for the festivities.
General Crimes Unit chief Sr. Comr. Moh. Jaelani said the police would not relax security measures even though Malaysian master bomber Azahari bin Husin was killed in a police raid in Batu, Malang, East Java, last week.
"He still has many trained followers who could launch attacks anywhere in Indonesia, including Jakarta, especially over Christmas and the New year. That's why we need to know which places and churches will be used for the festivities to prepare the necessary security measures," Jaelani told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Azahari and his accomplice Noordin M. Top are suspected of having masterminded major attacks on various targets in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali blasts that killed 202 people, mostly tourists.
They are also believed to have played a role in the Oct. 1 Bali bombings, which killed 23 people, including three alleged suicide bombers.
Noordin is still on the run.
A document found during a raid on one of Noordin's hideouts stated that the terrorist group had planned to launch a bomb attack on a mall in Kalibata, South Jakarta, at the same time as the attacks in Bali on Oct. 1.
Earlier, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said that the police would evaluate all churches and places of worship to decide how they could best provide security.
"We have to plan specific security measures for each church as they are all different. We will not just focus on traffic over Christmas and the New Year," he said.
Firman reiterated that information received from the special antiterrorist Detachment 88 said that the terrorists were targeting the capital.
He said that the police would also step up security measures around embassy buildings and places frequented by foreigners until the end of the year.
Meanwhile, more than 2,000 of members of the Jakarta Police's Public Education Unit gathered at headquarters to receive training on how to convince residents to cooperate with the police, including ensuring the reporting of newcomers in city neighborhoods.
"We now know how to convince people to report crimes and any suspicious persons that have come into their neighborhoods. I will apply what we have learned from the training," Adj. Insp. Untung S., a participant from Depok, told the Post.
He said that the city police chief had ordered all officers to ask the owners of rented houses to report details of their tenants to the police for monitoring purposes and to require all newcomers to report within 24 hours of their arrival to the neighborhood chief.
"We will take those owners who refuse to report new tenants or guests to us to the police station," Jaelani said.