U.S. Embassy, Consulate to open on Monday

U.S. Embassy, Consulate to open on Monday

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta and the U.S. Consulate in
Surabaya, East Java, will resume normal operations on Monday
after they closed for four days in response to alleged terrorist
threats.

However. U.S. authorities warned in a statement on Sunday that
the threat remained and urged the public to refrain from visiting
the embassy unless "absolutely necessary".

"The threat information remains serious and compelling and the
public is urged to refrain from coming to the embassy or the
consulate unless it is absolutely necessary.

"Americans are reminded once again to take prudent personal
security precautions, particularly during this period of
heightened security concerns," it said.

The embassy noted that the reopening of its missions here was
made possible with the cooperation of Indonesian security
authorities.

On Sunday, the police apparently increased its security
presence at the U.S. Embassy on Jl. Merdeka Selatan, Central
Jakarta, by deploying three truckloads of armed police.

An official at the scene said the increased security was
demanded by the U.S. embassy, but he did not know how long the
increased security arrangement would be maintained.

The U.S. missions in Jakarta and Surabaya had been closed
since Tuesday, following an alleged al-Qaeda-linked terrorist
threat on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United
States, an official said.

The sudden closure irked many senior government and security
officials. They expressed their disappointment over the closure,
saying that the U.S. had failed to inform the government and
security forces beforehand.

U.S. ambassador Ralph L. Boyce then held a string of meetings
with Indonesian officials, including Vice President Hamzah Haz,
who later ordered the police to increase security around the U.S.
mission premises.

The closure of U.S. missions in Indonesia has once again
raised concerns over the possible presence of al-Qaeda terrorist
networks in Indonesia, a country with the largest Muslim
population in the world. But so far there has been no hard proof
about their presence in the country.

In addition to its missions in Jakarta and Surabaya, the U.S.
government also closed about two dozen of its missions around the
world, mostly in Asia. But the missions in Indonesia were the
first to close, but not the first to reopen.

The U.S. Embassy in Malaysia was also scheduled to reopen
Monday after closing for three working days amid security
concerns.

"We plan on reopening Monday morning," embassy spokesman Frank
Whitaker told the Associated Press on Sunday.

The closure in Malaysia came the same day the U.S. mission in
Jakarta was closed over fears of possible terror attacks.

Malaysia, a mostly Muslim country of 23 million people, has
become a focus of the investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks and
has detained scores of Islamic militant suspects accused of
belonging to extremist networks in Southeast Asia.

Among those detained is a former Malaysian army captain who
officials say let senior al-Qaida operatives, including two of
the Sept. 11 hijackers, use his apartment for a meeting in
January 2000.

The United States considers Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad a key ally in the fight against terrorism, and Malaysians
have generally decried the Sept. 11 attacks.