Special forces to be deployed for PON

JAKARTA (JP): An army special forces team will be among the 4,000 soldiers and police to be deployed to maintain order at the 14th National Games (PON), scheduled for Jakarta from Sept. 9 to Sept. 20.

The security chief for the Games Organizing Committee, Brig. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, said Wednesday that the idea to involve 20 of the elite troops came from Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tandjung.

"It shows that the chief pays full attention to the National Games," Sjafrie said.

President Soeharto is to open the games at the Senayan Stadium.

Sjafrie, who is also the Jakarta Military Command chief of staff, denied criticism that the organizers were engaging too many military personnel.

"The number is standard. There are 73,000 military personnel around Jakarta and 4,000 is quite normal for the security job during PON," he said.

More than 13,000 athletes and officials will come to the capital city for the 12-day sporting event.

The city police spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna said his personnel would form a quarter of the games security force.

The city police to be involved include mobile brigade squads, bomb squads and riot squads.

Iman said the city police would also deploy special patrols around the Senayan Sports Complex.

Iman said the city police have been surveying the sports venues for days before the event and have guaranteed that there will be no security problems at the venues.

"We have drawn up a security map in accordance with the real conditions on the field," Iman said. (yan)