Troops man key areas to safeguard Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): While driving along Jakarta's streets these days, it would be difficult not to notice the armed security personnel clad in various uniforms at major intersections or outside large businesses.

The troops may come from disparate units, but they are united in a single mission: Safeguard the capital!

Brown patches bearing the word Sispamkota, an abbreviation for the city's security network, adorn the arms of members of the Jakarta Military Command, Jakarta police, Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), Marines and the Air Force's Special Command (Kopaskhas).

Deployed since July, the Sispamkota personnel have been assigned the task of maintaining law and order in the face of a seemingly endless wave of street rallies.

Unlike in the wake of the May riots when tanks and armored cars provided protection and mobility to troops, now military trucks are used to patrol the streets from time to time.

If the word on the street says a large demonstration is planned for a certain day, troops are transported to the reported location to ensure security before daybreak.

In the eyes of local residents and foreign tourists, the appearance of gun-toting soldiers lounging around or on the alert throughout the city could give both positive and negative images.

Only a few of us, it seems, are willing to imagine the daily difficulties these men face while spending long days and nights in places they are ordered to safeguard.

Huge military tents and hammocks are set up in some locations that are frequently guarded, such as at the House of Representatives (DPR) complex, to accommodate personnel in need of a rest.

Much like at any camp, tent roofs and tree branches become makeshift laundry lines to dry clothes.

"If there's no rally, we just chat with each other about our families and our backgrounds, or we watch television like now," commented a police officer stationed at City Hall.

He was watching television with several fellow officers, while other Sispamkota personnel sat talking in small groups or socialized with street vendors near the building.

Various logistical hurdles, such as the question of daily meals, are left to the discretion of each unit commander.

An officer from the city police's Mobile Brigade unit said his team was supplied with rations from their headquarters at Kelapa Dua, near Depok.

But other units receive food allowances of up to Rp 7,500 per day, Sispamkota deputy commander Lt. Col. Bambang Gandhi said on Monday.

Bambang, a senior officer of the city command's 1st Infantry Brigade, said most Sispamkota troops preferred to be assigned to building complexes or residences since their owners or operators usually provided some sort of accommodation.

"There is an unwritten agreement. We are there to protect their property. That's why the owners or operators might sympathize with us and provide accommodations," he said.

"Soldiers do not beg. We are doing our job," Bambang said after attending a ceremony in which 7,000 food packages were donated to military personnel on Monday from the Council of Buddhist Community (Walubi).

So far, nobody knows when they will no longer be needed on the streets of Jakarta, particularly since the general election is still eight months away.

But some of the soldiers and police have expressed a desire for it all to be over.

"Please tell the students to stop rallying because we're already tired," a military police officer assigned to the vast DPR complex said.

One of his fellow officers added: "We've been here since July. We don't know when we'll be withdrawn from here."

Along with National Monument Square and the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, the DPR complex in Central Jakarta has been a favorite location of protesters to stage their rallies. (ivy)