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October 30, 2000 

JAKARTA (AP) - The United States Embassy in Jakarta, which temporarily discontinued some services last week after receiving an unspecified threat, will remain closed to the public until at least Tuesday, a spokesman said.

"The suspension of public services has been extended," spokesman Karl Fritz said on Sunday.

The embassy closed down its consular and visa services last Wednesday after Fritz said that "a credible threat" had been received. He refused to elaborate.

Jakarta has seen almost daily Islamic protests since the upsurge in violence in the Middle East began nearly four weeks ago. The U.S embassy is often targeted because of Washington's perceived bias toward Israel.

On Sunday, about Muslim 100 youths armed with bamboo sticks visited several hotels in the town demanding that all U.S. citizens leave Indonesia.

"While checking the hotel's registry, the group gave us a statement demanding that all American citizens leave the country within two days," said Cahyo, a manager at the Agas hotel.

He said the protesters failed to find any Americans in the town.

The embassy closure is the latest in a series of diplomatic spats between Indonesia and the United States.

On Saturday, media reports said that a U.S. destroyer had strayed into Indonesian territorial waters and had to be escorted out by Indonesian patrol boats.

But a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said the destroyer was exercising its right of "innocent passage" on its way to East Timor.

Last Tuesday, the embassy denied charges by Defense Minister Mohammad Mahfud that an American tourist who had been detained in strife-torn Irian Jaya province was engaged in subversion or espionage.

"The United States is dismayed and perplexed by these and other recent false charges by the Defense Minister against the United States," said an embassy statement. "These charges suggest a dangerous pattern of disinformation that is creating a climate of anti-Americanism in Indonesia."

The two countries enjoyed close diplomatic and economic ties for many decades, and the United States has long been Indonesia's principal supplier of military equipment.

But the administration of President Bill Clinton imposed a ban on arms sales and military contacts with Indonesia in the aftermath of last year's destruction of East Timor by Indonesian troops and their militia auxiliaries.

The administration is pressing Jakarta to bring those responsible for the violence to justice and to disband the militia gangs based in Indonesian-held West Timor.

Those demands have been angrily rejected by Indonesian military leaders and nationalists who claim that Washington is meddling in the country's internal affairs.