Two Thousand Security Personnel to Secure Press Day Commemoration

Bengkulu (Antara) - Some two thousand military and police personnel will be deployed to secure the commemoration of the National Press Day scheduled to be held on February 9, in the Bengkulu city. "We will deploy two thousand military and police personnel. They will participate in a roll call tomorrow," Commander of the 041 Garuda Emas sub-regional military command Col. Achmad Sudarsono noted here on Wednesday. The roll call will take place at the Sawahlebar sports stadium in the Bengkulu city, on Thursday morning, he remarked. "We will also be assisted by soldiers from the Sriwijaya regional military command II," he claimed. Achmad stated that a platoon of raider soldiers from the Sriwijaya regional military command arrived in Bengkulu, on Tuesday night, while military armaments, including three armored vehicles, will arrive on Wednesday night. He remarked that the security personnel will be stationed in different places across the city ahead of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's arrival in Bengkulu city on Saturday (Feb. 8). President Yudhoyono is scheduled to attend the commemoration of the National Press Day and will also inaugurate an ASEAN journalism education and training center in Palembang, South Sumatra province. Malaysian Minister of Communication and Multimedia Dato' Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek and Malaysian media representatives will also attend the event. Chairman of the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) Margiono emphasized late last month that 75 journalists from the ASEAN member countries will attend the inauguration of the training center. Permanent Secretary of the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists (CAJ) Akhmad Kusaeni noted that a workshop for the ASEAN journalists will be held in Palembang, from February 10 to 12, following the inauguration of the training center. The three-day workshop will bear the theme "Bringing the ASEAN closer to the hearts and minds of the people." "The inauguration of the ASEAN journalism education and training center in Palembang had been recommended during the General Assembly of the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists in Manila, which was organized last year between November 21 and 23," Kusaeni stated in late January. (*)