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| Southeast Asia |
| Indonesian president stepping up personal security |
| 2005-12-26 |
| Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will step up personal security measures because of intelligence reports of threats to his safety, his spokesman said on Monday. With his country already having faced a number of deadly extremist attacks, Yudhoyono will restrict direct contacts with members of the public and limit opportunities for ordinary Indonesians to shake him by the hand. "The president has received credible intelligence information from the National Intelligence Body that there has been an attempt by a certain group which would endanger the safety of Mr President and his family," Andi Mallarangeng said. "In light of this, the presidential guards have implemented certain measures whereby physical contacts between the president and the people would be restricted," he said. "For example, normally people would come up to him and shake hands with him, now we will have to limit that... The president will still shake hands with people, but not as much." He declined to give details about the group, but said the threat would not affect the president's visit to the tsunami-ravaged province of Aceh for the first anniversary of the disaster. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |