Police herald safer Jakarta ahead of Obama state visit

Indah Setiawati , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 03/11/2010 9:40 AM

The Jakarta Police say the capital is secure for the upcoming visit by the US President Barack Obama, despite a slew of violent protests last week.

Obama is scheduled to be in the country from March 20 to 22.
“We’ll increase our supervision across our jurisdiction,” city police intelligence unit head Sr. Comr. Irlan said Wednesday.

He added the public was still welcome to stage protests during Obama’s visit, but under greater restrictions on when and where the planned protests could be held.

“For one thing, no protests can be held anywhere in the vicinity of Obama,” Irlan said.

“This isn’t special treatment, it’s the standard operating procedure for all state guests.”

He added protesters would also not be allowed to stage rallies at key locations, including in front of the State Palace.

He said the police would only permit protests that were related to Obama’s visit when the protest coordinators submitted a permit to the city police.

Since December, there have been three official protests against Obama’s visit, and 137 on various issues in just the first week of March.

The latest protest against Obama’s visit came last Friday in Banten province, when dozens of protesters calling themselves the improbably long-winded Campus Islamic Proselytization Institute Coordinating Board rallied outside the Serang Legislative Council.

There have been a total of 704 demonstrations in Jakarta this year.

Governor Fauzi Bowo said he would hold no special meeting with the central government to discuss Obama’s visit.

He added the capital city already had a procedure in place to welcome heads of state.

He said Obama was scheduled to arrive at Halim Perdana Kusumah Air Base, visit the State Palace, join a state dinner, discuss bilateral matters at the palace and then visit the Kalibata Heroes’ Cemetery in South Jakarta.

Fauzi said other items on the agenda, including a visit to his old elementary school in Menteng, Central Jakarta, had not been confirmed.

He added the city had prepared for the school visit anyway, and had roped the public order agency, the transportation agency, the education agency and the Central Jakarta mayor into the deal.

In a Cabinet meeting last month, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto said Obama would visit Borobudur Temple in Central Java to “show his wife and two daughters Indonesia’s cultural side”.

The eighth-century Borobudur is one of Indonesia’s seven UNESCO world heritage sites.

The visit by Obama is being trumpeted as a return of sorts, given that the president spent four years in Jakarta as a child.

Obama moved to Indonesia at the age of 6 with his mother, Ann Dunham, and Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro.

He first attended the Fransiskus Asisi Catholic Elementary School, and later the Besuki State Elementary School.

He left the country at age 10.