Fewer foreigners leave Jakarta on Saturday

Fewer foreigners leave Jakarta on Saturday

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Qantas Airways put on an additional flight from Jakarta to Sydney
to accommodate an increase in passenger numbers on Friday
following last Saturday's Bali bombing, but there was no sign of
a sharp rise in the number of foreigners, especially Australians,
leaving Jakarta on Saturday.

"There are no additional flights today or tomorrow. There are
still several seats available if you want to book one," a Qantas
employee told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

The employee, who requested anonymity, said there was an
additional flight on Friday.

"But today and tomorrow, things are the same as the situation
before the bombing," she said.

Qantas flies everyday from Jakarta directly to Sydney.

Separately, an employee of the state-owned airline Garuda
Indonesia said there was a slight increase in the number of
foreign passengers leaving Jakarta for the first few days after
the Bali bombing.

But many seats were available for this weekend, the employee,
Dewi, told the Post.

Garuda flies three times a week from Jakarta to four
destinations in Australia: Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Darwin.
All flights are via Denpasar.

Directorate General of Immigration spokesman Ade E. Dahlan
said there was no data available on the number of foreigners
returning home through Jakarta since the Bali incident.

The bomb attack left more than 180 people dead. Most of the
foreigners who were killed were Australian.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard during a visit to Bali
on Thursday called on Australians to leave Indonesia due to
increased security threats following the bombing.

But Indonesia-Australia Business Council (IABC) president Eli
Hutabarat revealed that her Australian colleagues would stay in
the country.

Star-rated hotels said that the bombing had also slightly
affected their businesses.

Meanwhile, the situation on Jl. Jaksa, Central Jakarta, which
has a number of small hotels and cafes popular among backpackers
and expatriates, has improved.

An employee of the Tator Hostel said business was beginning to
look up.

"It was empty for the first and second day after the bombing.
But now many foreigners are staying here," the employee, Bambang,
told the Post on Saturday.

He said that 15 foreigners, including two Australians, were
staying in the 22-room hotel.

He also said that security had improved since the government
took measures against a militant group, the Islamic Defenders'
Front, whose members had once vandalized cafes along the street.

Nine members of the group, including its leader Rizieq Shihab,
have being detained for vandalizing a number of entertainment
centers here earlier this month.