Jakarta beefs up security ahead of summit
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.