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)