U.S. embassy staff return to capital as security improves

U.S. embassy staff return to capital as security improves

Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The United States allowed on Friday its embassy staff to
return to Jakarta after a six-month-long evacuation due to the
threat of terrorism, signaling the return of security despite
ongoing antiwar protests and deep anti-American sentiment.

"The State Department has authorized nonemergency U.S.
employees to return to their diplomatic postings in Indonesia,"
said a State Department statement.

About 125 nonemergency staff members and their families left
Indonesia within days after the Oct. 12 Bali terrorist strike,
which killed more than 202 people, mainly foreigners.

Nonemergency employees make up about half of the embassy's
staff in Jakarta, said embassy spokesperson Tim E. Gerhardson.

He said the staff's families, however, remained barred from
coming back.

The authorization to return came after six months had passed
since their withdrawal was ordered in October last year. It is
the maximum period U.S. law allows for its staff to vacate
embassies unless the security threat remains high, Gerhardson
explained.

Washington ordered the evacuation of its staff at the embassy
and its consulate in Surabaya after receiving a series of threats
against American interests in the lead-up to the anniversary of
the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes.

U.S. embassies in several Asian countries and the Middle East
were temporarily closed during and after the anniversary. The
embassy in Jakarta was the first to suspend operations.

The security jitters led Washington to issue a travel advisory
warning Americans against visiting Indonesia, and Gerhardson said
the advisory remained in effect.

However, the partial lifting of the evacuation order reflects
an improvement of Indonesia's security situation.

Fears of more attacks after the Bali blasts faded due to swift
progress made in capturing the alleged Bali bombers.

But the months leading up to the U.S.-led war in Iraq sparked
concerns of a violent backlash from protesting groups here.

Various radical groups threatened to attack U.S. interests as
anti-American sentiment spread across the country and among
groups of various backgrounds.

The government has since stepped up security at embassies and
other foreign interests. Warnings of violent protests quickly
fizzled, even after the war broke out and continued for three
weeks.

U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce voiced his relief
about the peaceful antiwar protests, noting that they had been
driven by humanitarian concerns rather than religious zeal.

"I don't think it's so much about religion this time as
perhaps the Afghanistan demonstrations were a year and a half
ago," he said, referring to the antiwar protests in 2001 when the
U.S. led a coalition into Afghanistan to topple the Taliban
regime and the al-Qaeda terrorist group.

"This time I sense that the largest organizations on the
Islamic front recognized early on that this was not about
religion," he said.

He said the Iraqi issue had even helped "broaden and mature
the relationship on both sides".

He said the Iraq war was an emotionally loaded issue where the
U.S. and Indonesia fundamentally differ "and yet we respect the
possibility and can live with it without putting into jeopardy
all the many other important aspects of the bilateral
relationship".