Kuala Lumpur, be prepared for a total security lockdown as President Barack Obama of the United States is coming to town! As part of the usual routine whenever the US commander-in-chief is overseas, it will be rigorously out of bounds as far as roads and airspace are concerned.
Apart from the enhanced police presence, major parts of the city will also face road closures with a “no-fly zone” enforced to protect President Obama ahead of his arrival onboard Air Force One at the RMAF base in Subang Jaya on Saturday.
Everyone is secretive about the president’s movements here.
An official from the US Embassy responded: “To tell you I’ll have to kill you.”
For the past month, the US Secret Service has been in Malaysia securing routes, hotel and places that the president will step foot in.
US military cargo planes have started sending in logistical supplies for the president’s visit. These supplies include support vehicles and trucks loaded with sheets of bullet-proof glass to shield windows of the hotel that he will be staying in.
Obama’s trip to Malaysia this Saturday will be the first by a current US president in 48 years since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966.
Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director-general of Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) director-general confirmed that security in the skies would be “airtight”, saying the department was well prepared.
“I cannot tell you any more as that will be a breach,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Deputy Comm Datuk Amar Singh, deputy police chief of the City said the police were fully prepared on the security aspect.
“We have sufficient manpower and will work with other agencies to ensure everything goes smoothly,” he said.
The 44th president would be ferried in his Cadillac One, tagged The Beast.
What is to be expected here is already happening in Tokyo, where security has been intensively bumped up with 16,000 police officers deployed in eagerness for the first state visit by a US president there in almost two decades.
Obama is currently in Tokyo and will be heading to Seoul before Malaysia.
Japanese media said a full third of Tokyo’s police force has been pressed into service for Obama’s two-night visit which starts today.
Left luggage lockers and rubbish bins have been sealed in certain stations and thousands of security cameras have been put into operation.
Watch this video to know more about The Beast, designed to protect President Barack Obama:
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