Sat, 16 Aug 2003

City to establish center to prevent terrorism

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In an effort to prevent further terrorist attacks, the city administration has set up an intelligence center staffed by representatives from various institutions.

Established by Gubernatorial Decree No. 2646/2003 dated Aug. 6, the center, known as the Strategic Studies Forum (Forkais), held its first meeting on Friday at City Hall.

Offices on Jl. Gunung Sahari in Central Jakarta have been assigned to the intelligence center.

"All institutions that have intelligence units are participating in the center. All activities undertaken by the center will be reported to me," Governor Sutiyoso told reporters after speaking during the inaugural meeting.

Sutiyoso said the forum would serve as a place for intelligence officers from the relevant institutions to exchange information and discuss issues connected with their work.

The institutions involved included the city police, the Jakarta Military Command, the immigration office, the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), the Air Force and the Navy.

According to Sutiyoso, the forum, chaired by Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo, is also aimed at improving coordination among the institutions.

"It is not easy to gather together the representatives of all these institutions if there is no forum to facilitate them in exchanging views and information," said Sutiyoso.

He admitted that the Marriott blast had been the catalyst for the setting up of the center, which would be funded out of the 2003 city budget.

The bomb blast at the JW Marriott Hotel in Kuningan, South Jakarta, killed 12 people, including the reputed bomber, Asmar Latin Sani, and wounded 147 others.

Many have criticized a lack of coordination among police and intelligence bodies as being the reason they have been unable to prevent a string of terrorist attacks in recent years.

Sutiyoso said that his decree was issued based on Presidential Instruction No. 5/2002 on coordination between the institutions responsible for intelligence activities.

The gubernatorial decree assigned four main functions to the center, including ensuring coordination between the relevant agencies, early detection, and analysis of the public order and security situation.

The intelligence center also had the task of assessing possible security threats and analyzing their potential impact on Greater Jakarta.

The center would conduct continuous evaluation on the public order and security situation and coordinate the work of the relevant agencies so as to ensure prevention, and quick and appropriate responses.

Sutiyoso stressed the need for better coordination between the relevant institutions as so far each institution had tended to work on its own. Therefore, whatever information they possessed was rendered less effective in preventing terrorist attacks.

"Prior to this, information could only be exchanged through official forums. This meant that the necessary responses often came too late," said Sutiyoso, adding that the forum would hold regular meetings.

He revealed that the intelligence services had warned the city to be on full alert for further terrorist attacks in the near future.

He said the police had received information about plans for more terrorist attacks in the city.

"Therefore, we should always remain fully alert so that we can act in a timely fashion to thwart their plans," said Sutiyoso.

Sutiyoso also revealed on Friday that he intended to press ahead with his plan to seek the help of the military in guarding the city, saying that manpower constraints meant that the police needed military support.

He said that he had sent letters to both the Jakarta Military Command and the Jakarta Police about his intention of involving the military in maintaining security in the city.

He added that soldiers had already been deployed in a number of places. He refused to give further details.