Companies make standby plans ahead of polls

JAKARTA (JP): The trauma of the May riots, in which hundreds of people were killed and many buildings damaged, has led major companies to formulate contingency plans ahead of the upcoming general election.

The plans include improved telephone communications, stockpiling of food stuffs and medicines and an obligation for employees to keep a spare change of clothing and other daily needs at their workplaces.

"We have strengthened our communication systems to enable us to inform as many employees as possible, should a major riot erupt," the security manager of IBM World Trade Corporation's agent PT Usaha Sistim Informasi (USI) Jaya on Jl. Sudirman, Jaya Yan Poluan, said on Tuesday.

Under the system, security staff were expected to inform all employees directly, either at their fixed telephone or mobile telephone numbers, at home or at the office, he said.

Each security officer was assigned to contact a certain number of employees in case of emergency, he said.

Poluan, also a member of the company's crisis management team, said the firm had stocked up on essentials.

"Indomie instant noodles and some medicines are (in storage) here," he said.

Poluan said the company had provided members of the team with security guidance books.

Cynthia Wirantini, a secretary at chemical substance manufacturing company PT Petrokimia Nusantara on Jl. Rasuna Said in South Jakarta, said her company had urged employees to prepare for any possible crisis during the upcoming polls.

"Employees have been urged to keep spare private articles such as towels and clothes at the office."

The recommendation was to enable employees to stay at the office, should an untoward situation arise, she said.

The company has adopted the system used by PT USI Jaya in which some of its security officers are equipped with lists of employees' mobile and home phone numbers.

Wulan, a public relations staff member at PT Satelindo, said her company did not have special provisions, but "we have had a security agreement with the West Jakarta Military District Command since July 1996".

Under the agreement, several soldiers are deployed daily to guard the office on Jl. Daan Mogot in West Jakarta.

Abdul Lukman, another public relations employee of the company in charge of employee safety, said the company maintained close communication with the security officers.

"The command's personnel always inform us about the latest developments via walkie-talkies," he said.

The political situation in the capital is becoming tense as increasing numbers of party supporters hold street convoys and rallies. No fatalities have been reported, but the campaigning has alarmed many Jakartans.

The National Commission on Human Rights reported last May that at least 1,188 people died in the May 14 riots, with thousands of shops, vehicles and homes attacked, burned or looted.

Some embassies, however, said they had made no special preparations for the June 7 polls.

"We've given our citizens advice on security matters here through our home page. They can also contact us if they need advice," said Craig J. Stromme, a press attache at the Embassy of the United States of America on Tuesday.

Ralf Schroer, a staff member at the German Embassy, said the embassy had issued messages on security matters through both its home page and travel advice bulletins to about 2,500 German citizens living in Indonesia. (01)