Hotels, malls still on alert

Hotels, malls still on alert

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Security in Jakarta's hotels and shopping centers remains on full
alert amid concerns of possible retaliatory attacks following the
death of fugitive terrorist Azahari bin Husin in Batu, Malang,
East Java, on Wednesday.

"We are maintaining tight security around the hotel as usual,"
the JW Marriott Hotel's public relations manager Mellani
Solagratia told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

She said that the hotel -- located in the Mega Kuningan
business district in South Jakarta -- always cooperated fully
with the Mega Kuningan business district's security management,
as well as the city police.

Based on the Post's own observations, a number of hotels, such
as the Shangri-La, Sari Pan Pacific and Aryaduta, all in Central
Jakarta, have deployed at least 10 security guards each to check
incoming vehicles at the entry points to the hotels.

Similar security measures were also seen at the entrances to
office buildings, including the Landmark office complex in
Setiabudi, South Jakarta, BII Tower on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central
Jakarta, and Wisma BNI 46 in Karet, Central Jakarta, where three
security guards were searching all incoming vehicles.

Meanwhile, security at shopping centers in the capital has
been on full alert ever since the second Bali bombings on Oct. 1.

"We have tightened security at the mall ever since the last
attacks in Bali," Taman Anggrek Mall's public relations and
communications executive, Yunny Christine, said.

She said that besides the usual screening of vehicles and
visitors' belongings, the mall has also assigned its housekeeping
staff to regularly check the contents of trash cans.

"We also provide only one entrance for employees and tenants
so that we can maintain security," Yunny said.

The Jakarta Police earlier said that the red alert in the city
would continue until after the New Year.