Police brief envoys on city security measures
Police brief envoys on city security measures
JAKARTA (JP): Envoys from 14 foreign embassies here met with
Jakarta Police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman on Monday to
receive a briefing on the latest security situation in the
capital and preventive security procedures on unrest.
"It's a coordinating meeting between police and the envoys as
they deserve to have knowledge on what's really going on in this
city," Noegroho told reporters after the two-and-a-half-hour
closed meeting at police headquarters on Jl. Sudirman, South
Jakarta.
According to Noegroho, his office invited all of the 132
embassies in the capital.
He said he did not know why many countries, including the
United States and most leading European nations, did not send
representatives.
"We invited all of them. But only these countries met our
invitation," the two-star general said.
The guest registration book showed the representatives were
from Hungary, Spain, Ukraine, Malaysia, Chile, the Netherlands,
North Korea, Japan, Yemen, Jordan, Pakistan, Russia, Egypt and
the People's Republic of China.
The envoys also were informed on how to "obtain security" for
their nationals residing here, staff of the embassies and their
families.
"The material of the explanation is very technical," Noegroho
said in trying to fend off inquiries from the press about the
content.
Most of the diplomats at the meeting also refused to comment.
Some of them said they did not have time to talk to the media.
The North Korean envoy only said: "It's good, good."
A Russian representative gave the thumbs-up before getting
into his car.
Only Javier Amor, a security staff member from the Spanish
embassy, was willing to talk to reporters.
He described the meeting as "very useful" and said it allowed
participants some relief because the police gave their word to
help maintain their safety.
With less than 100 Spanish nationals living in the country,
Amor said problems for his mission would be smaller compared to
those with larger numbers of citizens, he said.
"The police talked about possibility of unrest and how to
evacuate our people from the embassy to the nearest airport for
safety," he said.
Noegroho said the meeting also discussed the situation during
the first few days of the campaign period of the 48 political
parties.
"We also told the representatives about the latest situation
in the city during the people's festival," the two-star general
said, referring to the May 19 to June 4 campaign period.
Asked whether the city police also gave a guarantee to the
envoys to quickly safeguard the embassies if untoward
circumstances occurred, Noegroho replied: "Nobody can give any
guarantee on something which has not yet happened. I'm not God
who knows everything beforehand."
He said the public, including people from the embassies and
expatriate residents, should always be alert and prepare
themselves for any possible chaotic situation. (emf)