JAKARTA, Indonesia - One of the foundation stones of American life abroad - good schools for the children - was shattered yesterday when three schools for international students announced they would remain closed for most of the month because of a continuing terrorist threat.
The closing of the schools sent an anxious frisson through the foreign community in Jakarta, a city that has seen plenty of violence but rarely against expatriates, much less their children. Many parents, unnerved by a specific terrorist threat to bomb international schools, said they were leaving Indonesia immediately to put their children in schools back home.
"People are wary and frustrated," said Jim Castle, a former president of the American Chamber of Commerce. "I think this will become a single person's assignment. People are not afraid per se, but the safety of their children is uppermost, and there is the uncertainty of schooling."
The schools that announced they would remain closed at least for another week are the Jakarta International School, where there are about 2,500 students; the British School, with about 800; and the Australian School, with about 450.
The Jakarta International School has students from more than 60 countries, including many from Indonesia, but the largest bloc is American.
Headmaster Niall C.W. Nelson said in a statement to parents that efforts would be made to "accelerate physical security upgrades" at the school's three campuses. "If all proceeds according to plan, we will then reopen on Thursday, Nov. 28."
Among the new security measures would be a 9-foot "blast wall" around the elementary school and "security film" on all the windows to reduce shattering in the event of an explosion.
The threat against the schools came last week, five weeks after terrorists believed to be part of al-Qaida's network blew up a Bali nightclub, killing more than 190 Western tourists. Western officials said that they had received specific, detailed intelligence about plans to attack Western students and that the plot appeared to be the work of the same network involved in Bali.
The schools were first closed Friday after Western intelligence uncovered the plans.
Negotiations with Indonesian authorities for better security measures failed to produce adequate protection, school officials said.
Seasoned diplomats and company executives, some of whom have worked in dangerous posts in Africa and Latin America, said threats against schoolchildren represented a new level of terror.
"I've been in six countries and never had a post where the schools were targeted," said a senior American executive, who for security reasons asked not to be identified.
"This is different from your company being threatened," he said. "You would never forgive yourself if something happened to your kid."