JAKARTA - Haunted by the ghost of Christmas Eve 2000 when a spate of bombings against churches killed 19 people, Indonesia is taking no chances this year and has packed more than 300,000 police and soldiers into Jakarta for the festival. President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday flew to Biak in the predominantly Christian province of Papua, where separatists oppose Jakarta's rule. She was due to attend Christmas celebrations before heading to the Papuan capital of Jayapura. According to reports from the Indonesian capital, all was quiet.
"Security was super strict at churches last night," said Hendrik Panjaitan, a businessman who attended a late night mass on Christmas Eve at St Paul's protestant church in central Jakarta. Dozens of police and soldiers were on duty at the church. At the Santo Yoseph church in central Jakarta, in front of which a bomb exploded on Christmas Eve 2000, the front yard remained packed with worshippers long after evening mass. The Christmas Eve 2000 church bombings have been blamed on the Islamic militant organisation Jemaah Islamiah, the terror group also blamed for the October 12 bomb attacks on Bali that killed more than 190 people. Tight security and an absence of violence were also reported in all major cities across the archipelago.
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JAKARTA - Haunted by the ghost of Christmas Eve 2000 when a spate of bombings against churches killed 19 people, Indonesia is taking no chances this year and has packed more than 300,000 police and soldiers into Jakarta for the festival. President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday flew to Biak in the predominantly Christian province of Papua, where separatists oppose Jakarta's rule. She was due to attend Christmas celebrations before heading to the Papuan capital of Jayapura. 
