'Bali won't be another Mumbai'

Andra Wisnu, ,  The Jakarta Post, ,  Denpasar   |  Wed, 12/31/2008 10:50 AM  |  Bali

The Bali police chief has assured Bali will not suffer the same tragedy that befell the Indian financial capital of Mumbai, saying it is impossible for armed terrorists to infiltrate the island's security and that authorities are in possession of the blueprints of all hotels on the island.

At the 2008 year-end press briefing at the Bali police headquarters in Denpasar on Tuesday, Bali police chief Insp. Gen. Teuku Ashikin Husein brushed aside concerns the police was not equipped to deal with a Mumbai-type situation, such as armed gunmen seizing a hotel.

"It's not that we're being arrogant but God willing what happened in Mumbai will not happen here. It would be insane if we did not know that a bunch of armed gunmen had entered several hotels, or that these men had just hijacked a boat," he said.

"I don't understand what those Indian police and military (personnel) were doing, either. Not us, I think we would have known."

The Indian public have openly criticized their government and counter-terrorist team for their slow response to the Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 164 people.

Cumbersome bureaucracy, a failure to act on intelligence, a lack of equipment and transport were just a few of the criticisms directed toward Indian authorities, prompting the resignation of the country's home minister, Shivraj Patil.

Ashikin said it was impossible to smuggle weapons onto the island, adding that the public would immediately report seeing anyone carrying automatic weapons.

He said the Bali Police had been well trained and could reach any location in Bali quickly.

"Of course, whether we'll succeed or not is a different matter, because from my experience, the police always look brave during training, but whether they'll run and hide as soon as bullets fly is something we won't know until the moment," he said.

"But then again, that's what training is for."

When asked whether the police was prepared to storm a hotel controlled by terrorists, Ashikin said he had all the blueprints of all of Bali's hotels, meaning his men would not have to go in blind.

"The police in Bali have a terrific cooperation with hotels. We have all of their blueprints. So if an attack such as the one in Mumbai occurred, we would not be blind to where we should enter, which rooms we would have to go through or which floors the attackers would be on," Ashikin said.

He said the police and the provincial administration were preparing to conduct another training exercise, this one focusing on damage limitation.

"We are currently working on a scenario where the terrorists have been subdued and we have to deal with the hundreds of injured people," he said.

"It would involve saving people, evacuating them to hospitals, responses to possible fires, this is all being planned for the near future."

The resort island has suffered two terrorists attacks in the past six years, neither involving gunmen.

In 2002 Islamic militants bombed a popular night club in Kuta, killing 202 people, mostly westerners.

In 2005, terrorists detonated bombs in Kuta and the neighboring beachside area of Jimbaran.

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