Police to field 70,000 officers
Police to field 70,000 officers
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Cirebon/Pekanbaru
The National Police have placed officers across the country on
high alert, with around 70,000 personnel on call for quick
deployment, in order to ensure the safety of the public over the
holidays.
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Monday that
the police would focus on 11 provinces, including Jakarta and
areas prone to conflict, during the holiday season.
"Our main priority will be these 11 provinces, including the
capital. But we will also be vigilant for possible attempts by
terror suspects to take the advantage of the long holiday to
evade justice," Da'i said after a Cabinet meeting to discuss
public order and security measures over the Idul Fitri break.
Da'i said that police officers, both uniformed and
plainclothes, would be on guard at public places such as mosques,
public facilities and along major highways.
"We have assigned our officers to where they will be able to
prevent possible disturbances, including terrorist moves during
the holiday rush," he said.
Over 17 million people are expected to journey home to
celebrate Idul Fitri, which falls on Nov. 14 this year. The
exodus started over the weekend.
The government has asked civil servants and private sector
employees to take leave next week to allow them to celebrate the
holiday with their families. This policy has been in place since
2002 as part of the effort to mitigate the impact of the Oct. 12
Bali bombings on the tourism industry in the country.
To ensure the availability of sufficient transportation, the
government has prepared some 30,000 buses, 218 trains and ferries
for holidaymakers.
"We will operate 10 additional trains this week to take
account of the increase in the number of passengers," Minister of
Transportation Hatta Radjasa said after the Cabinet meeting.
The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) will issue updated
weather forecasts every six hours over the long holiday from Nov.
14 to Nov. 20, while the Ministry of Public Works will prepare
heavy equipment to deal with possible floods and landslides along
those routes that are prone to such natural disasters.
Heavy rain has caused flooding in some parts of the country.
Hatta gave assurances that the return of Indonesian migrant
workers from Malaysia would not affect transportation
availability ahead of Idul Fitri.
The government says it has made the necessary preparations to
avoid blackouts in West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Southeast
Sulawesi and South Sulawesi provinces during the week-long
holiday.
"We have to ready for the possibility of blackout as power-
generating capacity in these provinces will be stretched during
the long holiday. We will make sure that there are no blackouts,"
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro
said.
The Cirebon Police, meanwhile, said they would arrange for
hundreds of medical personnel to man posts serving homeward-bound
travelers passing through towns along the busy north coast
highway in West Java.
Cirebon Police chief Sr. Comr. Lukito said the medical workers
would be at their posts from Nov. 8 to Nov. 22.