New Zealanders warned to avoid malls and hotels in Indonesia

1.00pm

New Zealand's Ambassador to Indonesia, Chris Elder, has written to New Zealanders living there warning them to avoid large shopping malls and identifiably Western hotels.

His warning came as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) upgraded its travel advisory on Indonesia following last week's suicide bomb attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, which killed nine people.

MFAT advised against non-essential travel to Indonesia, saying new information from the New Zealand Embassy in Jakarta had drawn attention to the need for particular caution in the coming days.

"Suggestions that the terrorist group responsible for the Australian Embassy bombing may be planning further attacks remain uncorroborated but are gaining currency," the advisory said.

Mr Elder said in his letter to New Zealanders in Indonesia that the United States and Australian embassies had issued particular warnings about the need for care around identifiably Western hotels. Large shopping malls should also be avoided.

Other embassies had suggested there could be a particular risk in the Kuningan area, Ambassador Mall, the Rasuna complex and Taman Anggrek, he said.

MFAT's upgraded warning appears to have been prompted by Prime Minister Helen Clark, who on Saturday warned New Zealanders to stay away from Indonesia.

MFAT appeared to come around to Helen Clark's way of thinking last night, saying: "In light of uncertainties about security in the aftermath of the embassy bombing, we now recommend against non-essential travel to Indonesia until further notice.

"New Zealanders who do travel to Indonesia should observe a high level of security awareness in public, choose their destinations and activities carefully, avoid places where Westerners are known to gather such as hotels, clubs, bars, shopping malls, tourist resorts and places of worship, and consider carefully the need for any travel within Indonesia."

A spokesman for the Prime Minister told NZPA last night the advice had been upgraded following consultation with Mr Elder.

"The new advice reflects the present risks of going to Jakarta and the threats to Western interests in Jakarta," he said.

Helen Clark today told National Radio that the travel advisory had been upgraded following more information on specific threats.

"It had gone beyond just Western hotels, Western shopping malls to specific malls, specific complexes, specific areas," Helen Clark said.

Asked whether New Zealand should have upgraded its travel advisory on Friday, the Prime Minister said a "line call" had been made then because clearly there was a high level of risk to Western interests in general.

At this point, there was no specific reference to or risk to New Zealand interests or New Zealanders being attacked but the level of threats was sufficiently high to now move to this next stage, Helen Clark said.

New Zealand was satisfied with the flow of intelligence it was getting, she said.

"We are in a loop."

The Indonesian Government had accepted help from Australian federal police.

Helen Clark said New Zealand had three police officers in Indonesia ready to offer assistance "with more available here if that's what they would like."

- NZPA