Jakarta beefs up security ahead of summit
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
At least 24,701 personnel from the Jakarta Police, military and city administration will be deployed to safeguard vital places and public areas in the city ahead of and during the upcoming Asian-African Summit.
Residents are also advised to check carefully the identities of people who rent houses or rooms in their respective neighborhoods.
"We specifically call on the owners of rental car companies to check the identities of those who rent their cars," Governor Sutiyoso said at City Hall after a coordination meeting on Thursday.
Jakarta will host the Asian-African Summit on April 22 and April 23, which will be attended by 56 heads of state. The summit will move to Bandung on April 24.
Police investigation into recent bomb attacks in the city showed that terrorists often used rented homes to prepare their attacks and rented cars to transport bombs.
"We want to ensure that security remains under control during the summit. We don't want to miss a thing, including possible (bomb) attacks," he emphasized.
Owners of shopping malls, entertainment centers and other public places, which could become the targets of terrorist attacks, are also advised to upgrade their security by deploying more guards to check incoming visitors.
Also present at the coordination meeting was Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani and Jakarta Military commander Maj. Gen. Agustadi Sasongko.
The joint personnel comprise 10,854 police, 6,388 Army, 1,449 Air Force, 610 Navy and 5,400 city public order officers.
"We will carry out a rehearsal on Apr. 15 in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta to check the readiness of the personnel," Sutiyoso said.
According to Firman, the police intelligence division has not yet received any significant information about possible bomb attacks in the capital.
"There is no report of possible attacks so far. However, we will still launch a special police operation ahead of the summit from Apr. 9 to Apr. 30," Firman said.
Bomb attacks remain the city's top security concern since Malaysian fugitives Dr. Azahari and Noordin M. Top, believed to be masterminds of past bombings in the country, are still at large. The last bomb attack on the Australian Embassy on Jl. Rasuna Said, South Jakarta claimed 11 lives.
Security personnel are also anticipating other possible disturbances, including the sabotage of the city's power or food supplies, mass rallies and traffic jams.
Some of the personnel will be uniformed but others will wear plainclothes.
The administration has assigned the City Parks Agency to beautify roads and median strips in the capital with flowers and trees.
"We will also ask street vendors, who are currently occupying road shoulders on main arteries in the city to tidy up. Otherwise, we will use force to rid them from the roads," Sutiyoso said, adding that each mayor would be in charge of operations in their respective municipalities.