security for looks; Jakarta

We have security everywhere now in Jakarta but most of it's for show. Everyday we drive into the office complex and one or two of the 3 to 5 guys there run a metal detector through the back of the car just to make sure it's still made of metal I suppose. Only the Dharmawangsa Hotel (*****) has a chemical sniffing device.

Now since the Ritz bombing last summer various institutions like BP have set up a security guy at the respective building doors. He's got a metal detector wand that he waves over my backpack. The majority of the time it goes beeeeep as it detects my laptop or stapler, or laser pointer, or keys. Of course he/they don't really care why the wand goes beep or what it indicates. I hand em my backpack and tell him there's no bomb in it today -- Tidak ada kaboom ini. He just looks at me quizzically.

So now three months on since the Ritz bombing some friends and I are off to a dinner meeting at the ritz. Presumably they've put the glass back in around the restaurant. T'will be bummer if they haven't since it's rainy season (October - May plus or minus a month).