The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has teamed up with the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) to protect the country’s energy assets from terrorist attack.

Under an agreement between both parties, the BNPT will undertake preventive measures to guarantee the security of all activities in the sector. In addition, they will also exchange data and information.

“All this time, counterterrorism measures have been dominated by the hard approach. Now, we have started to undertake a soft approach to identifying and anticipating the problem as early as possible. Well, prevention is better than cure,” BNPT chief Suhardi Alius said on Tuesday after signing the agreement at the ministry’s office.

He added that such preventive measures were crucial as terrorists often targeted public places, including bus terminals and train stations, as well as vital facilities, such as oil refineries and depots.

Read also: Eradicating terrorism must be comprehensive: BNPT

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan has welcomed the deal, saying that such counterterrorism measures ought to be implemented in the upstream oil and gas sector to ensure smooth exploration and exploitation activities.

“The BNPT can also train one or two persons at each of our work units so that they can be prepared for a force majeure event,” Jonan said. (lnd)