Muslim-majority Indonesia will deploy nearly 200,000 security personnel nationwide ahead of Christmas to guard against potential terror attacks, police said Tuesday, December 17.
The Southeast Asian archipelago of 260 million has significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists who have been targeted by radical Islamist groups.
On Tuesday, authorities said some 192,000 police and military personnel would be deployed to secure Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations across the country – including in easternmost Papua, a predominantly Christian region.
The deployment, which comes after a recent spate of attacks, is more than the 167,000 personnel deployed last year.
“As many as 10,000 personnel will be deployed in Jakarta” alone, said National Police spokesperson Argo Yuwono.
“Based on intelligence data, there are potential risks … so we’re taking preventive measures but we are also ready to take proactive action,” he added.
Many past attacks in Indonesia, which has dozens of groups loyal to Islamic State’s violent ideology, have been against police and other state symbols.
Authorities routinely arrest suspected ISIS-linked militants ahead of alleged planned attacks.
In October Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered beefed-up security after two militants from the ISIS-linked Jamaah Anshar Daulah stabbed chief security minister Wiranto. The minister, who goes by one name, survived the assassination attempt.
Last month a suicide bomber blew himself up at a police station in Sumatra, killing himself and wounding six civilians.
Hundreds of suspects were rounded up after the attacks, which came more than a year after a family killed a dozen congregants in suicide bombings at churches in Indonesia’s second-biggest city, Surabaya.
On Tuesday the country’s new chief security minister Mahfud said high security was also meant to ensure Christian communities could celebrate Christmas without being targeted by groups keen to disrupt the festivities.
“We need to anticipate as early as possible things like intolerant incidents and burning down houses of worship,” Mahfud told reporters.
Conservative Muslim groups have raided shopping malls and other public places to protest against Christmas displays or seasonal attire worn by Muslim employees.
With reporting from AFP