City residents celebrate peaceful Christmas joyfully
City residents celebrate peaceful Christmas joyfully
JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of Jakartans celebrated a peaceful
Christmas yesterday, having to deal with isolated traffic
congestion only.
Approximately 1,000 people attended midnight mass on Christmas
Eve at Jakarta Cathedral in Central Jakarta, their cars creating
long queues and congesting makeshift parking spaces in the areas
surrounding the city's largest church.
A similar view occurred at all of the city's churches, big and
small, as well as residential houses temporarily used for mass on
Christmas Eve.
A number of military and police personnel were seen on guard
around almost every church throughout the city since Sunday
evening until late yesterday morning.
Christians, totaling 700,000, or 7 percent of Jakarta's
population of 10 million, started to arrive at churches for
midnight mass at 7 p.m. on Sunday.
Fashionably dressed and carrying Bibles, the churchgoers said
they came as early as possible in order to avoid car-parking
troubles.
"We have to come as early as possible to avoid troubles in
parking our car. This way, we can feel fresh and happy attending
this religious gathering," a congregation member told The Jakarta
Post before stepping inside a church on Jl. Juraganan, South
Jakarta.
As the churchyard did not have a parking lot, the
congregation's cars created a long line of vehicles parked on the
side of the three-lane street.
As soon as the midnight service ended, hundreds of police and
military personnel struggled to maintain order in the jammed
churchyard. Similar views of police officers helping to keep the
traffic flow smooth from most churches was seen throughout the
city.
Several incidents
Police said no serious congesting occurred. Heavy traffic
happened only at several of the larger churches in South, Central
and North Jakarta. No serious crimes or traffic accidents were
reported.
According to City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna,
there were only several incidents, including a small fire in
Central Jakarta and a taxi robbery in South Jakarta, during
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
"So far, so good," Iman told the Post yesterday afternoon.
A total of 12,000 city police and military personnel were
deployed to secure places of worship, entertainment and business
centers and terminals during Christmas Eve and the holidays.
Hectic Jakarta was quite different the past two days as only a
few vehicles were seen roaring down the streets and a small
number of visitors went to entertainment and shopping centers.
Most of the busy thoroughfares in sprawling Jakarta, such as
Jl. Gadjah Mada, Jl. Panglima Polim, Jl. R.S. Fatmawati, Jl.
Ciputat Raya, Jl. Lebak Bulus, Jl. Sudirman, Jl. Thamrin, and Jl.
Gatot Subroto were almost deserted throughout the cloudy days.
Smaller stores were closed on Sunday and yesterday but many
department stores and supermarkets in and around the city
remained open.
A number of stores were still selling pictures of Jesus and
Santa Claus, as well as Christmas decorations.
On the streets, traditional trumpet sellers have started
offering their annual merchandise to passers-by preparing to
celebrate New Year's Eve. (bsr)