The governor said excessive concern could itself create unnecessary anxiety among the public and urged businesses not to erect excessive barriers around their properties.
Pramono added that the Jakarta provincial government would hold discussions with business operators to find the best solution while maintaining public confidence.
The police have also moved to reassure residents that there was no indication Jakarta faced an immediate security threat.
Jakarta Police spokesperson Budi Hermanto said on Saturday that the situation across the capital and the wider Greater Jakarta region remained safe and conducive.
“Police, military and Jakarta administration would continue safeguarding public activities not only this month but in the longer term,” he added.
Budi said preventive teams had been deployed to anticipate any groups seeking to incite unrest, with patrols intensified across Jakarta and surrounding cities including Bekasi, Depok and Tangerang.
Police were also monitoring misleading information and provocative content circulating on social media.
According to Budi, authorities had not received any official notification of planned demonstrations and urged the public not to be easily influenced by disinformation, provocation or false claims circulating online.
Meanwhile, some business groups have rejected suggestions that the newly erected fences were intended to guide against fresh unrest.
APPBI chairman Alphonzus Widjaja said the primary purpose of the barriers was to better organise the flow of visitors entering and leaving shopping centres, reducing safety risks and improving traffic around mall entrances.
“If the area is completely open, visitors can enter and exit from anywhere. That creates safety risks and affects traffic around the mall,” Alphonzus told CNBC Indonesia on Saturday.
He said the fences were intended to channel pedestrian movement through designated entry and exit points rather than respond to any specific security threat.
Pakuwon Group marketing director Sutandi Purnomosidi also dismissed suggestions that the fences had been erected because businesses expected demonstrations.
Instead, he said they reflected the company’s efforts to create a more orderly and secure environment.
Drawing a comparison with residential homes, Sutandi said fences were a basic security feature rather than a sign that owners expected a particular threat.
“The main purpose of a fence is security. It doesn’t have to be associated with a specific threat,” he told CNN Indonesia.
Some businesses in Jakarta have already begun removing the barriers following Pramono’s appeal.
At Kota Kasablanka mall in South Jakarta, metal fences about 2.5m high that had surrounded pedestrian walkways and the mall’s main entrance for nearly a week were dismantled on Monday, according to CNBC Indonesia.
The barriers had attracted widespread public attention because they blocked an area that normally serves as one of the main pedestrian access points into the shopping centre.
Read the full article here
