Jakarta hotel bombs kill 9, dent investor confidence

By Telly Nathalia and Olivia Rondonuwu

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Bomb blasts ripped through the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta's business district on Friday, killing nine people and wounding dozens in attacks that could dent investor confidence in Indonesia.

A car bomb also blew up along a toll road in North Jakarta, police said without giving further details. Indonesia's Metro TV said two people had been killed. An unexploded bomb was also later found at the Marriott, police said.

The apparently coordinated bombings are the first in several years and follow a period in which the government had made progress in tackling security threats from militant Islamic groups, bringing a sense of political stability to Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Suspicion is likely to fall on remnants of the Jemaah Islamiah militant group, blamed for previous attacks including a car bombing outside the Marriott in 2003 as well as bombings on the island of Bali the previous year that killed 202 people.

"I think the attacks are devastating for the image of security that Indonesia has built up painstakingly over the past four years," said Kevin O'Rourke, a political risk analyst in Jakarta.

"The attack is particularly severe for investor confidence because it took place despite strenuous counter-terrorist efforts by the government and has affected the hotels that are seen to be among the most secure in Jakarta and also either killed or wounded numerous prominent expatriate businesspeople."

Tim Mackay, president director of cement maker PT Holcim Indonesia, was among those killed in the hotel attacks, the company said. Police said nine people had been killed including foreigners. More than 42 people were wounded.

INDONESIAN MARKETS DIP

Indonesian financial markets fell after the blasts, with the rupiah down 0.7 percent at 10,200 per dollar, prompting state banks to sell dollars to support the currency, traders said. Indonesian stocks were down some 2 percent.

A spokesman for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called the blasts a "terrorist" act. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also condemned the attacks.

The Manchester United soccer team said it had canceled the Jakarta leg of an Asian tour. A Ritz-Carlton employee said the team had been due to stay at the hotel ahead of a game in Indonesia early next week.

Witnesses said the bombings at the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton were minutes apart and it appeared both had occurred inside the hotels, judging from the way windows were blown out.

That will raise inevitable questions about how tight security at the luxury hotels could be penetrated.

At the Ritz-Carlton, torn curtains flapped around broken windows and glass lay around the hotel. There was blood on the street across from the Marriott. The hotels are near each other in a business area home to many offices, embassies and bars.

Scores of foreigners and Indonesian hotel guests milled behind police lines in the hours after the blasts, some still wearing bathrobes.

"It was very loud, it was like thunder, it was rather continuous, and then followed by the second explosion," said Vidi Tanza, who works near the hotel, describing the blasts.

PROGRESS SINCE SUHARTO FELL

The bombings will also be a blow for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, re-elected last week in a crushing election victory that reflected the former general's steady leadership and firm stance on security.

Both parliamentary elections in April and the presidential poll this month passed peacefully, underscoring the progress made by the world's most populous Muslim nation since the chaos and violence that surrounded the downfall of ex-autocrat Suharto in the late 1990s.

"I would say it damages foreign investor confidence since the attacks appear aimed at Westerners, but not shatter it, so long as there is no further violence for some time," said Sean Callow, currency strategist at Westpac Bank in Sydney.

Lydia Ruddy, a witness who lives in the area, said she heard an explosion and saw smoke coming from the Marriott, followed five minutes later by another explosion at the Ritz-Carlton.

Jemaah Islamiah, which wants to create an Islamic state across parts of Southeast Asia, was blamed for a string of attacks between 2002-2005 in Indonesia. Many militants have since been arrested. But an Australian security report on Thursday said Jemaah Islamiah could be poised to strike again.

Leadership tensions in the group and recent prison releases of its members raised the possibility that splinter groups might now seek to re-energize the movement through violent attacks, said the report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

The report said Jemaah Islamiah was now a splintered group which may not be capable of replicating mass casualty attacks, but warned there was evidence that JI members released from prison "are gravitating toward hardline groups who continue to advocate al Qaeda-style attacks against Western targets." "These hardline groups continue to believe that the use of violence against the "enemies of Islam" is justified under any circumstances," said the report.

(Additional reporting by Michael Perry in Sydney, Harry Suhartono in Singapore, Writing by Dean Yates and Sara Webb, Editing by Jerry Norton)

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE56G0EX20090717?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=11569

A Classic Lesson from the Nigerian Pipeline Disaster

“Effective emergency preparedness is a task that is never done, but requires continuing commitment and leadership because circumstances change and continuing trade-offs because we will never have the funds to do everything we might like to do.” - Statement of William O. Jenkins, Jr., Director Homeland Security and Justice Issues, State of California



The impact of regular terror attacks is too big to be ignored
Aside from natural and accidental calamities, man-made catastrophes have grown to such a scale that they have become almost anticipated disasters. In Nigeria, for example, a total of 1 million barrels’ worth of oil exports are lost every day due to human-induced disasters resulting from intentional acts of terror.

Just barely 3 months ago, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited had to shut down a number of oil installations after suspected sabotage led to explosions on a pipeline. This shutdown has led to a loss of about 70,000 barrels per day for the oil giant.

Two days ago, Nigerian militants admitted to a separate pipeline bombing incident of a Chevron facility delivering crude between Olero and Abiteye. And recently, The Italian gas company, Agip, was forced to shut down its oil facilities, after “heavily armed fighters” bombed the Niger Delta facility.

In an act of intimidation, the insurgent group MEND on July 14 has warned the international football association FIFA that it should "rethink" allowing Nigeria to host the upcoming under-17 World Cup series later this year as the safety of international players and visitors cannot be guaranteed.

Nigeria loses about $1.5 billion yearly to terror attacks, and there is an urgent need for the government to address the situation.


The incomplete agenda
Laudably, the recently concluded Nigeria 2009 Oil and Gas Conference has agreed to reinvest profits to infrastructure to reduce poverty, an answer to terror attacks. Uplifting economic conditions is indeed one way to mitigate the growth and support for militants. The militants themselves admitted that the acts of terror were borne to advocate reinvestment to development projects and campaign for anti-corruption.

Tactically, however, this move alone is not sufficient to address the challenges posed by the destabilizing forces. Building infrastructure will take several years, but direct action is needed now for a more complete and immediate response to the challenges. There is still work to be done in saving lives and securing the physical assets of businesses, the government and the private sector, and in formulating a clear response and recovery plan.

There are multiple facets to disaster preparedness. Are your disaster recovery plans adequate?

Addressing limits to our disaster response capacities
The classic lesson highlights the limitations of our current understanding and capacity to respond effectively to human-induced hazards. Not to mention the severity of catastrophic events which almost immediately overwhelm national, local and organisational response capacities that require response almost immediately.

The acts of terror and natural hazard do not recognize political or organisational boundaries and could impale economies and businesses. Addressing catastrophic events must be well-catered for in every budget, but even beyond that, sometimes addressing them requires unconventional means.


The evolving role of the emergency and risk manager and the need for further collaboration
Your role as an emergency manager is now more important than ever. It goes beyond just coordinating disaster response or crisis management activities, providing disaster preparedness training, and preparing emergency plans and procedures for natural (e.g., hurricanes, floods, earthquakes), wartime, or technological (e.g., nuclear power plant emergencies, hazardous materials spills) disasters or hostage situations.
For example, the US’ 9-11 cataclysmic terror attacks expanded the extent of emergency preparedness to also include public safety, homeland security, emergency medical facilities, the international community and the private sector.

While the private sector must compliment the government, the size of the investment needed usually means that government is the best-equipped agency to do so, as noted by Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, Managing Director of SPDC.

Effectively dealing with emergency requires a proactive, integrated, multi-hazard, multi-sectoral and full-cycle approach. As the rules of the game get tougher, are you confident that you know everything there is to know about how to mitigate effectively against disaster, manage rescue and response or organise and deliver relief?

EMPRR 2009 Global Summit & Exhibition, 7-8 October 2009, Grand Copthorne Waterfont Hotel Level 2, Singapore — the biggest gathering of emergency managers and business continuity experts in Asia — will provide you the platform to explore what you had to know, and partner with the right people for you to be able to reduce the risk, damage, and loss, shorten the recovery period, and ensure business continuity.

During the occurrence of a major disaster is too late a time to be exchanging business cards
Assessing, developing, attaining and sustaining needed emergency preparedness, response and recovery capabilities is a difficult task that requires sustained leadership, and the coordinated efforts of many stakeholders from a variety of first responder disciplines, levels of government, the community and the business sector at the right time.

Don’t wait for disaster to happen! EMPRR 2009 brings an agenda that:
• provides numerous case studies,
• showcases new technologies and strategies to predict hazards,
• teaches you to assess the risk to human life and property,
• guides you in planning a response to an emergency,
• illlustrates how to discover and recover from damage,
• discusses how to manage ongoing hazardous conditions,
• demonstrates how to plan and mitigate for future hazards, and,
• leads the discussion to impact policy and decision making.


Grab the opportunity of our early bird promotion!
Save your company 30% off the regular price if you confirm and register before 31 July 2009. EMPRR09 provides preferred rates to government and partner organisations and emergency first responders, kindly send me an email for more info.

As for the terror attacks, I hope I could meet you in Singapore to discuss how strategically and tactically, these could best be solved!

Sincerely,

Paul Adams
Marketing Manager
EMPRR 2009

P.S. As an emergency or risk manager, you are also in charge of protecting your organisational assets, ensuring business continuity and forge partnership to help you fulfil your task better. Attend Workshop B to find out more strategies you can employ and claim your complimentary copies of 2 books related to BCP/BCM.