'I wish this holiday is peaceful'

'I wish this holiday is peaceful'

The city has beautified itself with Christmas decorations, ready
for the celebration despite reports on bomb threats. The Jakarta
Post asked some residents if the security warnings affected their
holiday plans.

Ille Petrascu, 36, is a Romanian citizen on a business trip to
Indonesia. He lives with his parents in Bucharest, the capital
city of Romania:

I am rather sad that I can't spend Christmas with my family
back home in Bucharest. However, I think spending Christmas in
this beautiful country is not bad after all, as all the people
here are very nice to me.

Honestly, I am very worried about the reports on bomb threats
during Christmas. I have taken precautions by avoiding places
that are said to be targeted by bombers. Hopefully, Christmas
will be peaceful.

However, I have a plan with my Romanian friend and other
expatriates to celebrate Christmas. We have booked a room in a
hotel and plan to decorate it with special ornaments. I hope this
kind of celebration can remind me of Christmas in my country.

This is the first time I will celebrate Christmas outside my
country. So, obviously this will be an unforgettable experience.
For me, I can learn many different customs from Indonesians in
celebrating Christmas ... God's blessings are everywhere.

Hans, 24, is a student at the University of Indonesia in
Depok. He lives with his parents in Cibinong, not far from the
campus:

I am one of the Christmas committee members of my church. This
year I am very busy preparing for the Christmas celebration. I am
very happy that I can give my time and energy to my church.

As our church is big enough, we don't have to rent a special
place to celebrate the occasion, and probably we will have a
rather huge celebration this year. If there is any bomb threat, I
hope it is not aimed at our church.

Luckily, my parents are not too worried about the issue of a
bomb threat. They said it was just a way to provoke people so
that they would panic and start to attack each other. I am not
going to panic because that means I have been controlled by them.

I hope that the Christmas spirit will bring understanding and
tolerance as well as a peaceful life to the world that can
prevent terrorists from conducting more bomb attacks.

-- The Jakarta Post