Political instability keeps security companies busy

Political instability keeps security companies busy

JAKARTA (JP): Security companies have mushroomed in the
capital amid the economic instability and political tension
weighing heavily on the minds of most city residents.

The companies, which mostly charge their clients in U.S.
dollars, provide a range of services, from e-mail security
bulletins warning clients to avoid certain areas of the city
because of the possibility of violence to designing contingency
plans ahead of the elections.

Employing professional investigators, former police and
military members, the companies main clients are multinational
companies.

The director of a Hong Kong-based security company which
opened a branch here in 1995, said that besides his company at
least five other world-renowned security firms had opened
branches here over the past four years.

"They are Kroll, Guardian, Control Risks, Pinkerton's and AGI.
This is excluding us," the executive, who asked for anonymity,
told The Jakarta Post at the Regent Hotel on Friday evening.

The director said his security company currently had some 80
multinational firms as clients, a sharp rise over the 12
multinational firms it served in 1995.

The multinational firms make up 99 percent of the company's
total clients, he said, insisting the Post not publish the name
of his firm.

The company's branch here has 34 employees, including two
former members of the Australian police's counterterrorism unit,
a former aviation officer for the Hong Kong police, at least
three former members of the Hong Kong special police force and
eight bodyguards.

"We have strong links with intelligence officers, the military
and the police here to help us with updated information," he
said.

The company began e-mailing bulletins to its clients during
the 1997 general election.

Also present at the Regent Hotel on Friday were the firm's
president and a technical adviser on contingency plans.

The firm was responsible for the evacuation of 375 people from
one company during the May 1998 riots, the company's president
said.

"We anticipated the (May) riots after the government announced
it was trying to raise fuel prices. We gave crash briefings
beforehand to companies here," said the president, who is a
former aviation officer.

He said that in the case of the November riots, his security
firm told multinational companies beforehand to take a holiday on
Nov. 13, the day 15 people were killed.

"The embassies here and our client companies asked us why were
we sending their people home. We told them that we expected
something big to happen. It did."

The director said that if a multinational company wanted
security services, its corporate security department would
contact a security firm's overseas headquarters, which would then
assign its Jakarta branch to provide the services.

He said his branch on Jl. Belitung I in Kebayoran Baru, South
Jakarta, charged hourly rates for the protection of VIPs, CEOs or
company executives.

"For one bodyguard, it's US$20 for one hour and minimum usage
is four hours. If the bodyguard is needed for a day, a week or a
month, different rates apply," the director said.

The president said that if a person was facing a high-level of
threat, he would need a team of people to closely guard him.

"It could go as high as $600 and upwards a day," he said.

The technical adviser said preparing a contingency plan took
between two to three days for a large organization and just one
day for a small organization.

"This includes finding a safe place where the employees can be
moved to. The plan is also about exhaustive surveys of certain
areas and routes which will be used to reach that safe place,"
the adviser said.

"It's a case-by-case situation. It could mean not taking the
toll roads, but different routes to reach that safe place or the
airport or just going out of the city."

Pinkerton's, a 149-year-old security company with 14 branches
across Asia, has seen the number of its clients here rise by at
lest 300 percent since last year's May riots. Most of its clients
are multinational companies seeking contingency plans for any
future unrest.

The general manager of the local Pinkerton's branch, Jeremy
Reynolds, said that his office, opened four years ago in the
Menara Dea building on Jl. Mega Kuningan Barat, had 15 technical
advisers working on contingency plans requested by dozens of
multinational companies.

Jeremy said that for a big organization with several branches
nationwide, a survey of locations would take at least two weeks
at a cost of about $1,600 per day.

"A big plan takes at least a week to write. Clients include
chemical and oil companies. Pinkerton's handles 30 to 40 local
companies here," Jeremy told the Post by phone. (ylt)