Police ready to guard vital business installations

National police said they are ready to provide security to vital business installations after the Indonesian Military (TNI) expressed its willingness to stop providing security to foreign-owned businesses, Harian Ekonomi Neraca and Investor Indonesia newspapers reported on Thursday.

But the police said they will replace TNI only in phases to secure the vital business installations.

This was disclosed by National Police Chief Gen. Da?I Bachtiar to reporters after attending a hearing with the House of Representatives? Commission I in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Before undertaking this new job, according to Da?I, police must take several factors like the location and potential security threat into consideration.

Da?i said police must carefully evaluate their limited capability.

Presently, police have been providing security to new companies like Natural Gas project in Tangguh, Papua, Da?i said.

However, the help from TNI is still needed to secure the vital business installations.

?For example, if the threat comes from foreign (countries), therefore the TNI?s presence is required in that particular location. Matters relating to the arrangement will be discussed in the Cabinet?s political and security affairs meeting very soon,? he said.

On Monday, the Indonesian Military (TNI) said it wanted to stop its lucrative sideline of providing security to foreign-owned businesses, saying it needed more time to bring peace to conflict zones in the country.

"We are not mercenaries. We have never signed any contract (with those companies)," he said. "The military needs more time to focus on conflicts that demand our attention. We proposed in a Nov. 4 Cabinet meeting not to guard these companies anymore."

Endriartono said the police, along with private security companies, should take over the military's current role at both installations, but gave no more details. Any decision would likely have to be made by the government.

Presently TNI is providing security to PT Arun LNG (Iskandar Muda Military Command, Aceh), PT ExxonMobil (Iskandar Muda), PLTA Sigura-gura (Bukit Barisan Military Command), PT Caltex Dumai (Bukit Barisan), PT Inalum (Sri Wijaya Military Command), Plaju Oil Refinery and Sungai Gerong (Sri Wijaya), Suralaya thermal Power Plant (Siliwangi Military Command), PT Dirgantara (Siliwangi), Cilacap Oil Refinery (Diponegoro Military Command), Paiton power plant (Brawaijaya Military Command), Petro Kimia Gresik (Brawijaya), Puspitek Serpong (Jakarta Military Command), PT Badak LNG Bontang (Trikora Military Command), PT Vico Muara Badak (Trikora), PT Nikel Soroako (Trikora) and PT Freeport (Trikora).