Police ready to rescue foreigners

Police ready to rescue foreigners

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Police have prepared contingency
plans to rescue foreigners in the capital should the situation
take a turn for the worse amid the increasing anti-American
sentiment in the country.

Speaking to reporters after receiving 20 diplomats at his
office, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb promised
that the police would take all necessary action to safeguard
foreigners in Jakarta, especially foreign diplomats.

He noted that currently he was prioritizing the safety of
foreign ambassadors and their residences here.

Currently, he said, the police were deploying a total of 14
companies of policemen to safeguard foreign assets in the city.

One company consists of around 100 personnel.

"We have agreed to establish safe refuges where they can be
evacuated to should something really happen," Sofjan told
journalists after the meeting.

Sofjan refused to reveal the whereabouts of the refuges, but
Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam said that
one of the locations would be Jakarta Police headquarters.

Anton said that the police's contingency plan included ways
of picking up expatriates from their embassies or homes and
taking them to the refuges or escorting them to the airport.

Meanwhile, British Ambassador Richard Gozney, the only
ambassador who attended Friday's meeting, said after it that the
police had promised to crack down on those who were intimidating
foreigners.

"We have received a promise from the Jakarta Police chief that
they will act firmly against those who carry out acts of
intimidation such as conducting sweeps, mass violence and the
like. We appreciate the promise. And we hope that nothing will
happen, but if something happens, we hope that the Jakarta Police
will fulfill their promise," Gozney said in Indonesian.

U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, Robert S. Gelbard, who on
Thursday strongly criticized the police over their failure to act
against those threatening Americans, skipped the meeting.

Instead, Gelbard went to the House of Representatives to meet
with the members of House Commission I for defense and foreign
policy.

Gelbard, however, declined to speak to the press either before
or after the closed-door meeting.

Commission I chairman Ibrahim Ambong said that at the meeting,
Gelbard had complained about the increasing threats against
Americans.

Gelbard, according to Ambong, also warned that threats against
foreigners would backfire on the country's investment climate.

"Eight American companies have threatened to relocate their
operations overseas and many others will follow suit if the
security situation remains uncertain," he quoted Gelbard as
saying.

Anti-American sentiment has been on the rise in Indonesia
following the U.S. government's threat to launch military strikes
against Afghanistan, which has refused to hand over Osama bin
Laden, the prime suspect in the recent devastating attacks on the
United States.

Anti-American demonstrations against possible American
retaliation have been coloring Jakarta and other cities across
the country in recent days.

Not only that, a number of hard-line groups, including the
Islam Defenders Front, have threatened to drive Americans out of
the country should the U.S. attack Afghanistan. Some militant
group members even conducted a search for Americans in a number
of hotels in Surakarta, Central Java.

The U.S. consul general in Surabaya, Robert A. Pallard, met
with Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. MA Erwin in Semarang on
Friday to seek police protection for around 200 Americans living
in Central Java, including Surakarta.

"The Surakarta incident has made some Americans in Central
Java nervous. A number of them have even moved from that town to
other towns," Pallard said.

Vice President Hamzah Haz said here on Friday that "there is
no serious threat to the security of U.S. interests here."

Meanwhile from Tokyo, foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda said
that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called him on Friday
morning to express concern over rising security threats against
Americans in Indonesia.

"I explained to him the situation ... And we are serious in
handling the situation," he said.

He added that President Megawati Soekarnoputri had instructed
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono to take all necessary action to prevent
nervousness among foreigners.

After chairing a ministerial meeting, Susilo said the
government would not tolerate any threats against foreign
citizens here, but he failed to identify what measures the
government would take against the hard-line groups that had been
threatening foreigners, particularly Americans. (team)