A sniffer dog checking a vehicle at the entrance ofthe JW Marriott Hotel in South Jakarta after it reopened on Wednesday.
The Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel were
targeted by suicide bombers earlier this month
Twelve days after bombs ripped through the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, killing nine people and injuring scores of others, the Mega Kuningan establishments were back in business on Wednesday amid tight security. Staff members were on hand to serve guests as both hotels reopened with an air of renewed vigilance and caution. A certain wariness was also palpable, with visitors a rarity at both hotels. “So far the hotel has been very empty. The only people who have come have been those invited by the hotel or reporters,” a doorman at the Ritz said. Security guards were out in force both outside and inside the hotels, with several armed policemen also on standby. Sniffer dogs were deployed at the entrance of the Marriott while security at the Ritz was also conspicuous. Although the lobbies at both hotels were spotless and showed no traces of the devastation wrought by two suicide bombers on July 17, the facilities most affected by the blasts — the Airlangga restaurant at the Ritz and the lounge and a nearby bar at the Marriott — remained closed to the public. Ina, a Marriott spokeswoman, said that although only one hotel staff member remained in the hospital, “some hotel staff members are being given psychiatric attention.” A Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman, Els Rahmadhinata, was upbeat. “We are excited to be back in business; hopefully things will pick up soon,” she said. “I’m sure we will bounce back.” “There are guests staying here and bookings,” Els added without providing figures. Riadi, who was having lunch with friends at the Marriott, dismissed the security fears. “I’m not worried about the security,” he said. “As a Jakartan, I’m used to it; these things can happen anywhere.” Meanwhile, a statement on a Web site, purportedly speaking for Malaysian terrorist fugitive Noordin M Top, claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings. Posted on Sunday, the statement, in both Arabic and Indonesian, named Abu Muawwidz Nur Din bin Muhammad Top as emir, or leader, of Tandzim Al Qo’idah Indonesia, the group it said was behind the attacks. The statement said the bombings were part of a jihad and targeted a meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Marriott. The Ritz was targeted, according to the statement, because the group did not want Manchester United to come to Indonesia. The English football team had been scheduled to stay at the hotel during its July 18-21 visit here as part of a preseason Asian tour. “There are some minor inconsistencies [with the statement]: They gave the wrong dates, while Noordin is known to be a perfectionist,” a member of the police’s antiterror cyber unit, who declined to be identified, told the Jakarta Globe. National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Sulistyo Ishak said the police were trying to determine whether the statement was authentic and who was behind it. Meanwhile, the lawyer for Ari Aryani, 25, also known as Arina Rahmah, said police had determined that his client was not aware that her husband, Abdul Halim, might have actually been Noordin. “She and her mother, Dwi Astuti, are only witnesses and are asking for police protection. Police have already put them in a safe house,” the lawyer, Asludin Hatjani, told the Globe. However, Arina’s father, Bahrudin Latif, 60, who heads the Al Muaddib Islamic boarding school in Cilacap, Central Java, is still believed to be an accomplice of Noordin. He has been on the run since the police raided his house in Cilacap a few days after the Jakarta bombings and found bomb-making materials buried in the yard.
Author: The Jakarta Globe
Author: The Jakarta Globe
