In an article carried on page 2, the English language newspaper Jakarta Post on Wednesday reported that Danish Ambassador Niels Erik Andersen “urged his countrymen to leave Indonesia to avoid possible threats.”
The Ambassador and Deputy Head of Mission Ulrich Sorensen are quoted in the article for referring to the lack of security, but it is not clear if this is related to the decision to close the embassy or the reason for urging the Danes to leave.
In the same article, National Police Spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam is rejecting the allegation that security is lacking, in particular referring to the protection of the Danish embassy.
As for urging all Danes to leave Indonesia, the spokesman says:
“There are no problems with foreigners, the threat is only in the embassy.”
“The foreigners should not be afraid because the police have prepared a lot of security patrol in their area to anticipate if there are attacks against them,” he adds, apparantly referring only to the saftety of the two diplomats.
The newspaper on its opinion pages also deals extensively with the issue, not of the safety of the Danes, but that of the cartoons.
Five out of nine articles writes in various ways about the cartoons, and all express a desire to leave the issue and move forward.
Oh, except for the cartoon(!). It shows twelve severed hands strung up in a gallow, all holding a pencil and blood dripping to the ground. If it is not funny (either), at least it shows that humor has not yet been a casualty of this unfortunate affair.
