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.