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.