School closed, expatriates leave after receiving extremists' threat

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An international school in Central Java has been temporarily closed and dozens of Nike employees' family members have left Indonesia for fear of being targeted by radicals seeking to forcibly expel Americans.

The Mountain View International Christian School located in the Central Java city of Salatiga will be closed for three months following a bomb threat it received on Oct. 2.

Various Muslim groups have staged street rallies and threatened to attack American citizens if the U.S. takes military action against Afghanistan in its hunt for Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes on America.

Antara reported that there had been no subsequent activity and many of the 143 students had returned to their countries of origin, the U.S., Japan, India and South Korea.

The school population includes 91 American citizens. Forty are teachers and managers and the rest students. An estimated 100 Americans had been living in Salatiga prior to Oct. 2.

Salatiga police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Satria Firdaus Maseo said on Wednesday that the threat the school management received by phone and the subsequent closure were regrettable.

But he advised American citizens in Salatiga to remain vigilant. "Report any threats to the police," he said.

Tuesday's bomb threat at 9:15 a.m was the second. The first came on Monday when a man called up the school to warn that a bomb would go off at 9:15, Satria said. Both turned out to be hoaxes.

Sr. Comr. Didik Marsiwanto, chief of Greater Semarang police, said security on the school premises had been tightened.

In Jakarta, the Nike shoe manufacturing company reported on Wednesday that wives and children of expatriates working at the firm had returned to their home countries due to security concerns.

"Some 25 to 30 family members of expatriates working for Nike have left Indonesia," Nike Country's Manager in Indonesia Jeff Dumont told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He said there were 20 to 25 expatriates employed by Nike out of a total of 200 employees working throughout Indonesia. The number does not include workers at Nike's sub-contract companies.

Dumont said he had also received information that families of the Adidas foot and sportswear company and several other foreign firms in Indonesia had done the same thing as a precautionary measure.

"Many companies give freedom to their expatriates to send their families back home," said Dumont, adding that the families of Nike expatriates would come back to Indonesia when security had returned to normal.

Rumors about imminent "sweeps" on Americans have also spread through the Central Java town of Purwokerto. On Wednesday, 17 hoteliers came to the police seeking better protection.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Sukamto Handoko promised to take firm action against trouble makers. "We will grab them and load them into our trucks for legal process," he said.