Planes carrying APEC leaders may use Halim airport
Planes carrying APEC leaders may use Halim airport
JAKARTA (JP): The planes carrying the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) leaders to the summit here in November will
likely land at the Halim Perdanakusumah air base in East Jakarta.
Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. A.M. Hendropriyono
inspected the military air base yesterday to consider the
possibility of it being used as the airport for the APEC leaders.
"We are checking the base's readiness for the APEC summit,"
Hendro said.
The commander of the Halim air base, First Marshal Iskak
Karmanto, told reporters that the base is ready to receive the
leaders.
"Basically, we are ready to receive them and to secure their
planes," he said, adding that the base was used successfully for
the 10th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in 1992.
He said that the base can accommodate 22 wide-bodied airplanes
such as Hercules and Boeing 737.
Iskak said that the base does not need a major face lift but
does require some minor repairs.
APEC members include the six members of the Association of
South East Asian Nations -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- along with the United
States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea,
China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and Mexico.
The APEC summit is scheduled to be held at the Bogor palace, a
249 year old palace built by the Dutch formerly called
"Buitenzorg". It is located in the scenic town of Bogor, 60
kilometers south of the city.
Although the summit is scheduled to be held in Bogor, the
heads of the APEC states will stay at the Jakarta Hilton
International Hotel in Central Jakarta.
Earlier, on Saturday, members of the Indonesian elite Kopassus
commando troop held a training exercise at the Hilton after the
government appointed it the official hotel for the meeting.
The commandos dropped onto the hotel's roof by helicopter,
scaled down the building's walls, crashed through windows and
opened fire with blanks in a 15 minute exercise.
To ensure security and stability in the city during the
summit, the Jakarta military command has pledged that it will
increase the scope of the ongoing "Operation Cleansing".
The anti-crime drive, which is code-named "Operation
Cleansing", was launched by the city chapter of the Agency for
the Coordination of Support for the Development of National
Stability and includes personnel from the Army, the police, the
Marine Corps and the Air Force as well as officials from Jakarta,
Tangerang and Bekasi.
Hendropryono also said that the current 16,700 security
officers is bellow par and that he will triple their strength.
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