City ups security amid bomb threats

City ups security amid bomb threats

Bambang Nurbianto and Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

A wave of bomb threats swept through the capital on Tuesday, five
days after a bomb exploded outside the Australian Embassy on Jl.
Rasuna Said, Kuningan, South Jakarta.

The threats toward two office buildings and a five-star hotel
caused only a slight commotion as police bomb squads found out
that the threats were hoaxes.

The bomb threats were addressed to PT Unilever and the Four
Seasons Hotel, both are in Kuningan, and Wisma BNI46 on Jl.
Sudirman, Central Jakarta.

Irawati, PT Unilever's receptionist who received the bomb
threat by phone, said that the call was made by a man with a
hoarse voice at around 11 a.m.

"He said there was a bomb in the building before hanging up,"
she said. "I immediately told my superiors about it."

The management of Menara Duta office building, of which
Unilever is one of 30 tenants, immediately evacuated the
employees and waited for the bomb squad to arrive and search the
area. They found nothing.

Later in the afternoon, the Four Seasons Hotel and Wisma BNI46
received phone calls from unidentified people claiming they had
planted bombs.

The bomb squad did not find a bomb at the Wisma BNI46 compound
either.

Considering that Tuesday was the start of the three-day
campaign ahead of the Sept. 20 runoff and that the government has
declared the country "on full alert" following the embassy
explosion, in which nine lives were taken and more than 180
people injured, security in public places has been upgraded.

National Police detectives chief Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung
said that two third of police personnel -- or around 200,000
officers -- have been deployed to secure strategic and vital
places, including private and government offices.

The entrances of several shopping centers in the city looked
busier than usual. Security guards armed with metal detectors
checked all bags and other items carried by visitors. Guards
using mirror detectors observed all vehicles before they entered
parking lots.

"It's good that nearly all visitors cooperate. They can
understand our job. Only a few of them were reluctant to be
checked," said Safrin, a security guard at Plaza Senayan in
Central Jakarta.

Some malls deployed extra guards as a precaution.

Sutaman, a security guard at Plaza Indonesia, said the plaza's
management had added 60 guards since Monday, bringing the number
of guards there to 160.

Meanwhile Djumadi, a security guard at Mal Taman Anggrek, said
he was among 50 new guards at the mall.

Plaza Senayan did not add extra guards. But a guard there said
that a platoon of 100 police officers was assisting in the
protection of the shopping center.

"We have enough security personnel here, and checking all
visitors is a standard procedure. We have done it before -- after
last year's Marriott bombing. Our superior ordered us to check
all goods more carefully after the embassy blast," he said.

For Hartati, a 50-year-old housewife from Pondok Indah, South
Jakarta, tight security measures should be applied permanently.
"We must remain vigilant. They (the bombers) committed their
crime when we were careless," she said as her bag was being
searched by the guard.