Hotels must report guests to police

Hotels must report guests to police

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta Police are requiring all hotels across the capital to
report the identities of their guests to police as soon as they
check in.

"We already require newcomers in all neighborhoods to report
within 24 hours of their arrival. Now, we want hotels
to report their guests' identities to us," city police chief Insp.
Gen. Firman Gani said on Wednesday.

Firman said the requirement was one of the security measures
adopted following reports that terrorists may launch fresh
attacks in the capital to avenge the killing of top terrorist
suspect Azahari bin Husin last month.

Earlier, Jakarta Police issued a circular requiring all
newcomers here to report their presence to the neighborhood chief
or nearest police station within 24 hours.

General Crimes Unit chief at the city police, Sr. Comr. Moh.
Jaelani, said many hotels were still reluctant to ask their guests
to show identity cards or passports, even though this was
required by the regulations.

"We will go around hotels in Jakarta to check whether they
are recording their guests' identities when they check in. We
just want to make sure that the capital is secure," Jaelani told
The Jakarta Post.

Jaelani said that hotel managements should quickly notify
police intelligence when foreign citizens checked into their
hotels.

Jakarta has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks,
including one at the JW Marriott Hotel that claimed 12 lives in
2003.

Several foreign embassies, including the U.S., Australian and
Canadian Embassies, and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) have
warned that terrorists may launch attacks around Christmas and
New Year.

Suspected members of Jamaah Islamiyah bombed 11 churches on
Christmas Eve in 2000, killing at least 19 people.

City police have deployed around 17,000 officers to guard
2,152 churches and strategic places across the city during the
Christmas and New Year celebrations.