Security officers withdrawn from the city starting today

Security officers withdrawn from the city starting today

JAKARTA (JP): Security officers, who were deployed in the
capital as a safeguard to the election in the city last week,
will start being withdrawn today, said Jakarta Military Commander
Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso.

Sutiyoso told reporters yesterday that the withdrawal will
take place as the security of the city, where a number of riots
erupted during the election campaign period, had already returned
to normal.

"There is no reason to continue maintaining the deployment, as
the situation in Jakarta is already back to normal," the
commander was quoted by Antara as saying.

About 25,000 officers, including 17,000 policemen, were
deployed to safeguard the election in the capital.

Sutiyoso explained that the withdrawal will be conducted in
stages and that security and order duties will be given back to
city police.

The Jakarta military commander, who is also chairman of the
city's Agency for the Coordination of Support for the Development
of National Stability (Bakorstanasda), also urged city police to
speed up the legal process for people who were involved in
breaching campaign regulations and public security.

"It's better to legally process the people involved in
criminal activities and release those who were just followers,"
he said.

Sutiyoso also expressed his thanks to all Jakarta residents
for their willingness to control their emotions and for being not
so easily provoked, thereby preventing a number of arrests.

"People's awareness was so high that security during the
election went as smoothly as expected," he said. (hhr)