Vice President Boediono --accompanied by Chief of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI)`s General Staff Affairs Lt Gen J Suryo, in his capacity as commandant of the 18th ASEAN Summit`s Security Operation Command-- observed the final preparations for the holding of the Summit at the Jakarta HaLL Convention Center (JHCC), the venue of the summit, on Wednesday.
Besides the Vice President, Deputy Chief of National Police Nanan Soekarno and Jakarta Police Chief Sutarman also observed the ASEAN Summit preparations at the venue (JHCC).
Police during the 18th ASEAN Summit are deploying 4,385 personnel to maintain security during the event. Police have the task to guard Ring II and III areas while the presidential guard forces (Paspampres) have the responsibility to maintain security in the Ring I areas.
Earlier, Sutarman said that the Jakarta Police would carry out optimal pacification in Jakarta and its surrounding during the 18th ASEAN Summit. It will deploy traffic police personnel, security intelligence (intelkam) and mobile brigade (Bromob) forces.
Besides guarding the Summit venue, Paspampres together with police will also guard airports and hotels where important state officials will stay during the Summit event.
On Wednesday, a joint security guards from the National Police and the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) have been deployed around the Jakarta Hall Convention Center (JHCC).
Security checks have begun to be carried out at the entrance gate of the Bung Karno Sports Stadium where military personnel with complete arms examined each person or vehicle passing through the gate.
The pacification by police and military personnel was also seen in a number spots outside the JHCC building while officers also conducted security checks on the belongings of guests coming into the building.
Also, there are about 2,000 military personnel alerted at Soekartno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusumah airports to secure the arrivals of ASEAN heads of state/government and delegations.
The 2000 personnel received final directives from Halim Perdanakusmah Air Base commandant, Air Commodore Nurullah here on Wednesday.
The pacification will involve personnel from the Army Special Strike Force, Air Force`s Special Corps Forces, Intelligence Detachment, Combat Engineers Detachment and local military district command.
Military officers who are responsible for security at the airports are Commodore Nurullah for Halim Perdanakusumah airport and Flight Colonel Tri Bowo, Wing I commandant of the Halim Air Base, for the Soekarno Hatta.
Delegates and parties will begin to arrive on Thursday while heads of state/government of ASEAN arrive on Friday. "But there are several heads of state/government who will arrive on Thursday such as Myanmar`s Prime Minister Thein Sein," Tri Bowo said.
In the meantime, commandant of the 18th ASEAN Summit`s Security Operation Command, Let. Gen. Suryo Prabowo, accompanied Vice President Boediono during his inspection of the Summit preparations at the JHCC.
The 18th ASEAN Summit will last from May 5 to 8, 2011, preceded with a ministerial level meeting on Thursday which would discussed various cooperation fields such as politics, security and economy. It is also expected to discuss the Thai-Cambodian border problem.
In the face of wide-spread of fears of increasing extremism, radicalism and bomb terrors or parcel bombs in Jakarta of late, the Jakarta Police will also continue monitoring terrorist cells in connection with the ASEAN summit.
"We have unveiled the book bomb cases and arrested 20 suspects. But terrorist cells still exist in Jakarta," Sutarman said at a press conference along with Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo.
The Jakarta police chief and Governor Fauzi Bowo along with Jakarta administration officials held a meeting earlier in the day to discuss the security of the ASEAN summit.
Sutarman said the police had already located the terrorist cells in Jakarta. "A team keeps monitoring and watching them," he said adding that he had prepared security for VVIPs namely heads of state of ASEAN member countries from the airport to where they stay, at conference venues and when they return home.
The police will also help other security forces securing eight hotels where ASEAN heads of state and government and delegations would stay namely Indonesia Kempinsky Hotel, Grand Hyatt, Mandarin, Four Seasons, Shangri-La, Mulia Senayan, Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriot.
However, the death of Osama bin Laden would not affect domestic security ahead of the ASEAN Summit.
"We did not close possibilities about radical movements in the country carrying social symbols such as religious issues. However the death of Osama would not automatically trigger radical actions in the country," Coordinating ministry of political, security and legal affairs Spokesman Sagom Tamboen said. (*)
Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
