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Indonesians
traveling to their home villages by ferry for Eid celebrations
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By
Kazi Mahmood, IOL South East Asia correspondent
KUALA
LUMPUR, December 2 (IslamOnline) - Indonesia has dispatched 120,000
police personnel in an attempt to make sure this year’s Eid-ul-Fitr
festival - to be celebrated December 5 and 6 in the world’s largest
Muslim country - is a peaceful and secure one.
Police
started their activities Sunday, December 1, making sure the flux of
millions of people out of major cities and coastal areas back into the
main lands take place without scuffles and incidents.
Thousands
of police personnel have already been dispatched to key areas in
Jakarta, Bali, Riau Islands as well as Kalimantan and other provinces
in the vast territory.
This
incredible number of police officers, most of them Muslims, were given
orders not to take leave for the “lebaran” or Eid-ul-Fitr, after
the Bali bomb blast on October 12 that killed 185 people.
Though
Jakarta will be much emptied by the huge amount of people to leave the
metropolitan city for the Eid, police personnel will still guard
strategic public places, buildings and certainly mosques as well as
temples and churches.
Armed
personnel will also be present and it is possible that the military
police join in securing the city, where President Megawati
Sukarnoputri will be main guest of Honor on the day of Eid at the
Istiklal Masjid, the largest mosque in the city.
Protection
at embassies and ministers’ houses will also be reinforced, for fear
of terrorist attacks, though in the streets of Jakarta, the people are
confident there will be attacks during the Eid.
Jakarta
residents are already on their way to their respective villages,
creating heavy traffic jams in the main arteries and even smaller
roads, prompting the police to intervene in several areas.
The
General of Police, Daí Bachtiar, said police officers have been
asked to oversea the situation in almost every single street on the
Island of Java, as well as Bali.
He
said the police wanted to make sure this Eid-ul-Fitr is a peaceful one
and that no incidents occurs. Police personnel have also been briefed
to look into every thing and every one that looks suspicious.
It
is the first time in Indonesian history that such a large police force
is use to accommodate Muslims for the Eid, an observer in Jakarta
said.
He
added that there was already an air of festivities in the streets of
Jakarta by night, certainly with the throng of people catching buses,
trains and planes to reach their parents and families in the villages
for Eid.
Police
has called the operation the “Lilin Ketupat 2002’ meaning Candle
Ketupat (Ketupat is a Malay rice product, popular during Eid), since
the operation will combine Eid and Christmas, two crucial holidays.
Bachtiar
appealed to the Indonesians to be disciplined while traveling on
highways during this festive season in order not to cause accidents or
unnecessary traffic jams.
Bus
drivers are the main subject of concern during this week before the
Eid, sources said from Jakarta, adding that road accidents might be on
the rise this week.
“The
aim of the police as of this week will be to ensure that accidents too
do not occur, at least if it is lowered compared to last year, then it
will be a successful festive season,” a police officer working in
Jakarta said.
On
the other hand, the police said it has received “bomb detecting”
units that would help the police to determine if there are any bombs
placed any where in the huge city of Jakarta during the holidays.
Police
now has 6 detectors, Sinar X type that will help the force to ensure
peace in the coming 10 days and in the future.
Eid
is celebrated on a week-long period in Indonesia, though the
government offers two public holidays for the auspicious occasion in
the Muslim calendar.
Indonesia
is the largest Muslim nation on earth, with over 85% of its 212
million people claiming to be of Islamic faith.
