Jakarta: As authorities prepare for Christmas, more than one and a half lakh policemen have been assigned to security in Indonesia alone. A top police official has revealed that over 160,000 policemen have been deployed to secure Christmas and New Year celebrations in the country. Ninety thousand policemen were deployed last year to provide security to about 50,000 Christian churches in the country. This time it was doubled and increased due to security threats.
Stanislov Reyanta, an intelligence expert from the University of Indonesia, located in the West Java province, said local governments should not refuse to provide security to shrines in the wake of recent attacks in the country. Stanislav Reyanta explained that there is an increased likelihood of attacks during Christmas and New Year celebrations. He was referring to a knife attack on a security minister, Viranto, last October. Jama Ansharut Daulah, a militant group closely linked to the Islamic State, is said to have been responsible for the attack.
