Embassy security chiefs told Jakarta is now safer to live
Embassy security chiefs told Jakarta is now safer to live
JAKARTA (JP): City police chief Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi told the
security chiefs of dozens of embassies here on Thursday that the
capital is now a safer place to live and is also safe for foreign
investment.
"We want to assure the chiefs that the crime rate here is not
as high as it was before, and that the city is a safe place to
live in... that foreigners are free to come here and invest,"
City police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis said after a meeting
between city police top brass and the security chiefs.
He said the meeting, held at the city police's operational
control center, was done in an effort to help persuade foreign
embassies that conditions in the capital were much safer today
than they were three years ago.
"Pak Nurfaizi and several other top city police officers
informed the security chiefs of foreign embassies that, for
instance, the total number of crime incidents had declined from a
staggering 20,157 incidents in 1997 to 18,603 in 1999," he said.
"We also invited the security chiefs to ask the police for
assistance in any matter concerning security, including updates
on conditions in the capital."
Zainuri added that police officers present at the meeting also
informed embassy security chiefs of "the minimal non-violence
technique," taken up by police officers to deal with street
protests, which have become common lately.
Several parts of the city, mainly the National Monument
(Monas) area, the House of Representatives/People's Consultative
Assembly (DPR/MPR) compound, and Jl. Cendana in the elite Menteng
area where former president Soeharto now resides, all in Central
Jakarta, have been the popular spots for protesters to express
their views.
Demands for better welfare for teachers and factory workers,
and serious and thorough prosecution of alleged corruption,
collusion and nepotism by Soeharto, his family and cronies, have
been the main themes of the protests.
When asked if the security chiefs were informed about the
kinds of crimes being committed today -- incidents of vigilantism
where people are murdered or burned alive over the theft of a
goat, a pair of sandals, or a hen -- Zainuri just laughed.
The security chiefs who attended the meeting, included
representatives of Vietnam, Yemen, New Zealand, Austria,
Palestine, Iraq, Spain, the United States, Singapore, Laos,
England, Russia, Myanmar, Croatia, Malaysia, Turkey, Sudan,
Germany, Cambodia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Jordan, Japan,
South Africa, Pakistan, Peru, Sri Lanka, Denmark, Sweden, the
Philippines, Mexico, Czech Republic, France, Mali, Syria, the
European Union, Algeria and the Netherlands. (ylt)