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Keep calm and merry on: Police
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Get ready: A police personnel salutes National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian on Dec. 23 during the lunching of the annual Operasi Lilin (Operation Candle) to beef up security ahead of Christmas and New Year festivities. (Antara/Rivan Awal Lingga)
D
espite the intensified activities of terrorist cells and threats from hard-line groups to disrupt Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations, the National Police have insisted that the year-end holidays will proceed peacefully.
On Friday, the police, backed by the Indonesian Military (TNI), launched the annual Operasi Lilin (Operation Candle) to beef up security ahead of the year-end festivities.
For the security operation, which will run through to Jan. 1, 2017, the police will deploy a total of 150,000 officers across the country, who will be tasked with securing churches, shopping malls, tourist destinations and venues where crowds are expected to gather in large numbers.
(Read also: Terrorists targeting police in foiled Banten terror plot)
The police gave an assurance that the security situation was under control and that it was safe for the country to celebrate the two festivities, especially following the crackdown on at least 13 terrorist cells in six provinces across the country, a campaign that National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian claimed would have “a deterrent [effect] on other terrorist groups”.
Under the auspices of the massive security operation, each individual church in the country will receive security protection during Christmas services.
To personally guarantee the safety of Christians celebrating Christmas, Tito is scheduled to visit a number of churches in and around Jakarta starting Saturday.
In providing the security protection, police personnel have coordinated with church leaders to draw up detailed security plans to secure Christmas services.
Police have also provided training to church managements on preparing for bomb attacks, said National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul.
“We have told church leaders to brief parishioners on safety measures. We have this covered,” Martinus said. Martinus said no serious threats had been detected and that the security situation was under control.
A number of foreign governments have issued travel warnings for their citizens about visiting Indonesia during Christmas and New Year’s Eve, a move which Martinus said was understandable.
Tito meanwhile urged people to remain calm and carry on with their daily routines and enjoy the holidays as security authorities were hard at work maintaining security.
Despite the police assurance, in the past weeks, the country has seen a rising number of intolerance cases, which have included hardline groups launching raids against shopping malls perceived to be forcing Muslim staff to wear Christmas paraphernalia such as Santa hats. The raids have taken places in cities ranging from Bandung, West Java, to Sragen in Central Java and in Surabaya, East Java.
Last year, the Christmas celebration passed off peacefully, but only two weeks into the new year, a bomb and gun attack in Jakarta’s business district, near the Sarinah shopping center, left eight people dead, including four terrorists, and injured dozens of others.
(Read also: Jakarta remains vulnerable to terror attacks with leading IS terrorist on the loose)
Earlier on Friday, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto led a joint meeting to discuss the threat of terrorism in the lead-up to the year-end holidays.
The meeting concluded with relevant agencies agreeing to draft thorough counterterrorism measures, especially in dealing with Indonesian militant groups with ties to the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria.
“We have a plan to involve all [relevant] ministries and institutions to carry out counterterrorism measures because this is no longer a national issue, but an international one,” Wiranto told reporters.
National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius, who took part in the meeting, said the government was now looking for ways to isolate terrorist inmates from other prisoners to prevent them from spreading their radical ideas behind bars.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo himself has instructed the police and the military to pay extra attention to a possible terrorist threat during the year-end celebrations.
“There should be stern measures against those who want to disrupt people wanting to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve,” Jokowi said in a tweet he sent using his handle @jokowi on Thursday.
