Officials unaware of embassy's road closure

JAKARTA (JP): City Governor Sutiyoso and Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Yacoeb on Monday claimed they were uninformed about the closure of part of Jl. Muhammad Yamin in Central Jakarta by the British Embassy following a bomb threat received by the embassy two weeks ago.

City Governor Sutiyoso said that he did not know about the closure of the road in front of the British Embassy.

"I have yet to receive a report about a permit to close the road. I'll check with my subordinates," he told reporters at City Hall.

Separately, Sofjan also admitted that he knew nothing about the closure, but he pledged to seek a way to settle the matter if the closure had significantly inconvenienced motorists.

Head of the city's Transportation and Traffic Control Agency (DLLAJ) Rustam Effendy, however, admitted that the embassy asked permission from his office to close half the road off in March, this year.

Rustam said the closure was aimed at preventing illegal parking in front of the embassy.

"But later the road was fully closed to prevent bomb threats. But the closure is temporarily, it would be opened when there were no more threats," he said.

The road was still blocked on Monday and guarded by security officials of the embassy.

Motorists could still pass along the road after being checked and given permission by security guards.

"We have been given orders by the embassy to close this entrance as they received a bomb threat around two weeks ago," said one of the security guards.

He admitted that security guards had been questioned by a number of motorists as to the reason behind the closure.

"I've simply told them about the bomb threat, so far we haven't receive any complaints. People are still able to pass after we have checked them," he added.

Officials at the British Embassy refused to comment on the closure when contacted by The Jakarta Post. (06/emf/jun)