Jakarta Globe, Lenny Tristia Tambun, Dec 24, 2014
Jakarta. The capital’s deputy governor Djarot Syaiful Hidayat said on Wednesday he would visit six churches in the capital on Christmas Eve to monitor security and wish Jakarta’s Christian community a happy Christmas.
Bomb squad officers inspect a church in Malang, East Java, ahead of the Christmas Eve mass. (AFP Photo) |
Jakarta. The capital’s deputy governor Djarot Syaiful Hidayat said on Wednesday he would visit six churches in the capital on Christmas Eve to monitor security and wish Jakarta’s Christian community a happy Christmas.
“I’ll
conduct blusukan [impromptu visits to constituents] this evening,” Djarot told
reporters at City Hall on Wednesday. “I will visit several churches to make
sure that the services run safely and smoothly.”
Djarot will
kick off his visit at 6:30 p.m. to six churches: St. Theresia Catholic Church
and GKI Kwitang in Central Jakarta, Santo Yoseph Church and GPIB Surya Kasih in
East Jakarta, and Gereja Salib Suci and Gereja Tugu in North Jakarta.
“I also
want to personally wish them a merry Christmas,” Djarot said.
The
National Police said earlier in the week that some 80,000 police officers would
be tasked with ensuring security at Christmas and New Year celebrations, in
what has become an annual operation known as Operation Candle.
A further
19,5000 personnel from the Indonesian military will join the security
operation, which is set to run through Jan. 2.
“We will
secure every place of worship, residential areas, tourism locations, stations,
terminals, ports, airports and also other places where there would be a lot
people gathering for Christmas and New Year celebrations,” National Police
chief Gen. Sutarman said on Tuesday.
As officers
in Jakarta monitored security at churches and selected public spaces, police in
East Java and Sulawesi were conducting searches of churches to look for any
suspicious devices. To the south of Jakarta, in the West Java city of Bogor,
police and security officials were investigating a bomb threat circulated via
SMS message that purported to be linked to ISIS supporters in Indonesia.
“There was
message from someone claiming to speak in the name of the ISIS network saying
there would be terrorism during New Year, and the plan was to bomb three
crowded places in Bogor City,” Bogor Mayor Bima Arya said on Tuesday. “We take
this threat seriously. That is why we decided in a meeting with the police [on
Tuesday] that we’ll jointly beef up security at places that attract a lot of
people.”
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