SECURITY FOR ASIAN GAMES 2018 TO MEET INT'L STANDARDS by Fardah

Jakarta, May 29, 2018 (Antara) - Indonesia will tighten security measures in accordance with international standards for the 18th Asian Games to be held in Jakarta and the South Sumatra provincial capital of Palembang, from August 18 to September 2. 
     Some 9,500 athletes, 2,500 personnel of the Asian Olympic Council, and 5,500 technical delegates from 45 countries will participate. At least 3,500 media representatives are expected to cover the Games.

        Security arrangement for the biggest sport event in Asia was discussed in a meeting chaired by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in Jakarta on May 28.   
    The Chairman of the Indonesia Asian Games 2018 Organising Committee (Inasgoc), Erick Tohir, said he had worked in coordination with the police and the military to ensure the success of the Games.

        At the meeting, President Jokowi emphasised the importance of assuring all participants that Indonesia was safe.

         Indonesia would ensure that security during the Asian Games and the third Para Games to be held in Jakarta from October 6 to13 would meet the international standards set by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC).

          "I have asked the Indonesian Asian Games Organising Committee (Inasgoc) and the Indonesian Asian Para Games Organising Committee (Inapgoc) to inform OCA and APC that the condition in Indonesia was safe as the security officers had managed to control the situation," the Youth and Sports Affairs Minister, Imam Nahrawi, said recently.

            The organising committees decided to go ahead with the schedules because the situation had been restored to normal after the bombing incidents in Surabaya, East Java, he noted in early May.  
    Earlier, the House Speaker, Bambang Soesatyo, also called for the implementation of international standard security measures for the Asian Games. He urged the military (TNI) and the police to work hard to secure the event.

        The Chief of the National Agency for Counter Terrorism (BNPT), Commissioner General Suhardi Alius, said the security authorities would go all out to maintain security and be on the lookout for possible terrorist disturbances.

        The agency wants to make the Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang zero attack and zero accident.

          For that, he said, the security would be made very tight. "Very strict, anyone who does not use an ID card should not go in. The motto is 'zero attack and zero accident'," said Suhardi Alius.

        Further, the Inasgoc had tied up with the National Cyber and Coding Agency (BSSN) to improve the information system security and to prevent it from being hacked during the Games.

        "In this era, we have to anticipate cyber attacks. We should remember the incident that took place during the Winter Olympics in Korea, when there was a delay of one hour in the opening due to a cyber attack on the ticketing system,¿ Erick Thohir said following a closed-door meeting chaired by the Vice-President, M Jusuf Kalla, in early May.

        In Jakarta, the Deputy Governor, Sandiaga Uno, said the country's capital city had been improving security arrangements. One of the steps was to increase the number of surveillance cameras or Closed Circuit Television (CCTV).

        "We plan to add 300 CCTV units to the 6,000 that are already operational. The CCTV units will have face-recognition software," Uno noted.

         A similar assurance regarding security was also voiced by the South Sumatra Governor, Alex Noerdin.  He  called on all in the province to continue to maintain security and to make the city safe for the Asian Games.

        The elite counter-terrorism unit, Densus 88, of the National Police would help secure the Asian Games venues in Tangerang, according to the city¿s police chief, Commissioner Sabilul Alif.  Inasgoc has chosen Tigaraksa Subdistrict, Tangerang, Banten Province, as the venue for the Pentathlon. To secure it, the authorities would deploy 520 joint forces of the Tangerang City Police, the Police's Mobile Brigade, a bomb-squad unit (Gegana), and the military.

         As for the torch relay that would start from July 15 in 18 provinces, Insp. Gen. Pol. Deden Juhara, the National Police Chief's Operations Assistant, said that some 200,000 personnel would be deployed to secure the routes.

         "For the opening and closing ceremonies, 36,000 police officers and 50,000 military officers will be deployed," Juhara, concurrently Security Deputy IV of the Asian Games 2018, stressed in Jakarta, on May 15.  ***2***
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(T.F001/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 29-05-2018