Police to keep guarding churches
Police to keep guarding churches
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Even though two major religious events -- Idul Fitri and
Christmas -- have passed off peacefully, the National Police will
continue to maintain tight the security at certain churches and
other public places nationwide in the run-up to the New Year
holiday.
A spokesman for National Police Headquarters, Sr. Comr.
Zainuri Lubis, said that the police would continue to deploy some
200,000 personnel until ten days after the New Year holiday, and
that they would be focused on particular churches where New
Year's services were being held as well as public places such as
entertainment and recreation centers and hotels.
"Of course, we will continue guarding churches as Christians
usually hold prayer services on New Year's Eve.
"But we will now pay more attention to those public places
where many people will be celebrating the New Year," he told The
Jakarta Post.
On Tuesday, Jakarta Police Headquarters issued an order
prohibiting people from riding in convoys to celebrate the New
Year, as well as from setting off fire crackers.
Violations of the ruling carry sanctions in line with Laws No.
2/2002 and 14/1999 on the National Police and Road Traffic
Regulations respectively.
Following a series of bomb blasts that exploded almost
simultaneously in or outside churches during Christmas 2000,
blasts that have been blamed on Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), Christians
have been forced to practice their religion against a backdrop of
possible terrorist attacks.
The police enhanced security at churches this Christmas
following the series of bomb blasts on Christmas Eve in various
cities across the country in 2000 and 2001.
At least 19 people were killed while dozens of others were
injured during the attacks on 38 churches and pastors' residences
in eleven cities: Jakarta, Bekasi, Bandung, Sukabumi, Ciamis, and
Mojokerto, all in Java; Medan, Pematang Siantar and Pekanbaru in
Sumatra; Batam; and Mataram on the island of Lombok, east of
Bali.
The recent Bali and Makassar bomb blasts that killed nearly
200 people, mostly foreign tourists, and injured hundreds of
others, have further heightened the fear of terrorist attacks.
The police blamed the Christmas attacks to JI, a group the
leaders of which have been the focus of police action following
the Bali bombings. These leaders allegedly include Muslim cleric
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir of the Solo-based Indonesian Mujahiddin
Council (MMI).
Ba'asyir has been arrested for his alleged involvement in the
Christmas Eve blasts and a plot to assassinate President Megawati
Soekarnoputri. But thus far, the police have yet to figure out a
link between Ba'syir and the Bali attacks.
The police are still investigating a total of 26 people who
are suspected of being behind the Makassar and Bali blasts.