Evacuees make plans to return to Jakarta

Evacuees make plans to return to Jakarta

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Sunday flights from Singapore to Jakarta have been fully booked as Indonesians and expatriates make plans to return to Indonesia, travel agents said yesterday.

Flights earlier than Sunday still had seats available, as many of those who had fled violence in Indonesia this month waited another day or two to see if the dust had really settled.

One ethnic Chinese Indonesian said he was returning to his home in the Jakarta area because it seemed "quieter now and it should be OK, but if not I'll cancel the flight".

Many of those returning have further hedged their bets and will be carrying a return ticket to Singapore in their pockets in the event violent demonstrations re-ignite in the post-Soeharto era.

Indonesian President Soeharto stepped down on Thursday after protests over his policies led to riots and more than 500 deaths, but it remains to be seen if the opposition will remain quiet for long under his successor, B.J. Habibie.

An Indonesia-based expatriate employee of Germany's Siemens, staying at a Singapore hotel courtesy of his company, said he and his family were headed back to Jakarta on Saturday.

"It is our decision. Jakarta has quieted down some and my wife and children are Indonesian and want to go home," he said.

However, many of the families evacuated to Singapore from Jakarta will be split as breadwinners, usually husbands, return to the riot-torn capital, leaving spouses and children safely in Singapore until there is more certainty that calm has returned for good.

"My husband is going back this weekend, but we are staying for another week or so until it is safe," said an Indonesian woman staying at a Singapore hotel with her two small children.

Singapore hoteliers said because many men are going back to Jakarta, leaving families behind, hotels were still quoting 100 percent occupancy rates for the foreseeable future.

Christina Quek, public relations manager at the four-star Crown Prince hotel, said the ratio of refugees from Indonesia staying at the hotel was divided equally between those staying on a corporate account and those who would probably be paying out of their own pockets.

"It's no secret that for the first three months of the year the hotel industry was in a bit of a slump, and it's a bit of a windfall to be running full in a month where full occupancy is not expected," Quek said.