No Red Alert Situation in Jakarta

Tuesday, 08/12/2009 00:00 WIB

No Red Alert Situation in Jakarta

JAKARTA: Although President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is worried about the upcoming march held to celebrate Anti-Corruption Day on September 9, the president's ministers say there is no special treatment to monitor the rally, which is touted to be followed by tens of thousands of participants.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto confirmed there was no change in security status ahead, at the time, and after the march celebrating Anti-Corruption Day.

"There is no red alert situation," he said after chairing a coordination meeting on political, legal, and security affairs in Jakarta yesterday.

The number of security officials deployed to monitor the activities will also be the same with the ones deployed under normal circumstances. The Indonesian Armed Forces is only prepared in the respective units. "There will be no special treatment," added Djoko.

However, the absence of red alert status doesn't mean that Jakarta is not prepared anticipate the worst case scenario that may be triggered by the march, which is initiated by the Indonesia Clean Movement. The Jakarta Regional Police even prepares 14,000 polices or nearly half of their total police personnel.

"We have prepared half of our police personnel," informed Chief of Public Relations at the Jakarta Regional Police Police Superintendent Rafli Amar as reported by Antara.

President Yudhoyono previously exposed there was a certain movement whose short-term goal was to discredit the government or even oust the president.

In response to Yudhoyono's statement, former Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Rizal Ramli was worried the statement mentioning there were parties conspiring to "topple' the president would pave way for foreign speculators to enter Indonesia's financial market.

"Such a situation can grow into an alarming one due to the President's questionable statement. This will pave way for foreign speculators," Rizal told yesterday.

However, the Presiden's statement mentioning his potential ousting didn't affect the stock market significantly. The Composite Stock Index (IHSG) only fell 1.11% to 2,483 yesterday.

Head of Research at publicly listed PT Reliance Securities Andrew Sihar Siahaan viewed the slight correction yesterday was more attributable to investors' sentiments triggered by global trend instead of to political sentiments.

"There is indeed only a slight borderline between the capital market or the economy and political situation, but Indonesia's political and security stabilities are still strong." (Bisnis/ea/21/jao/ags)