Police security is too much

How good is it for tourism and international business to have armed gunmen around the Hilton Hotel?

On May 24, 1999, I accompanied my boss to the Lagoon coffee shop for an early morning meeting. Around 8:30 a.m., the Jakarta Police chief arrived and took a table with some other men. Shortly after, we got up and left. While we were walking up the stairs to the lobby, we passed three men in civilian dress carrying machine guns at their sides.

At first we were afraid and didn't know what was happening. It could have been anything. Later, of course, we realized that these men were acting as security for the police chief.

In times like these, when people are nervous, is it a good idea to have armed plainclothes officers arriving to protect an official 15 minutes after he arrives somewhere? If they had arrived with him perhaps it would have been okay. Still, it seems a bit like overkill for these security men to be carrying machine guns. This type of security makes this country look like a banana republic, with a bunch of armed desperados guarding their leader.

DINA A. SJARIEF

Jakarta