Foreign embassies urge their nationals to show caution

JAKARTA (JP): The United States embassy here issued a travel warning urging U.S. citizens to defer non-essential travel to Indonesia and suggesting that those working here may wish to consider leaving the country due to the deteriorating political situation.

Yesterday's announcement said the departure of U.S. government employee dependents had been approved and that similar requests submitted by employees themselves would be considered on a case by case basis.

"Private American citizens in Indonesia may wish to consider departure as well," the embassy said. "American citizens remaining in Indonesia should avoid large crowds and demonstrations."

"Live ammunition has been fired at protesters and several deaths have occurred," it pointed out.

Other foreign embassies here have also urged their nationals to show caution, but none have so far formally announced an intention to evacuate.

A Singaporean national said that the island state's embassy had also advised caution and urged citizens to remain indoors. No advice to leave the country had been issued.

The Malaysian embassy also publicly advised its citizens here to remain calm.

The Australian Embassy held public briefings on the latest developments for its citizens on Tuesday and Wednesday and advised its expatriate community to show caution.

The Thai Embassy here has also reportedly been instructed by its foreign ministry to prepare contingency plans to assist Thai nationals living in Indonesia.

AP quoted Thai Foreign Ministry officials in Bangkok as saying that there are 497 Thais living in Indonesia, 273 of whom are in Jakarta.

In Tokyo, the Japanese foreign ministry warned tourists to avoid traveling to Indonesia and issued a recommendation that Japanese "defer all non-essential travel to Indonesia."

The ministry warned that growing student unrest, rapidly rising prices and increasing unemployment had created conditions where "trouble may occur, even for Japanese visitors."

Meanwhile, Reuters reported from Tokyo that Japanese companies had asked family members of their employees in Indonesia to evacuate and barred employees from making business trips here.

Electronics firm Hitachi Ltd said yesterday it had told its Japanese employees working in Indonesia to send their families out of the country in light of the rising unrest.

"As we expect the unrest in Indonesia to reach a peak around May 20, we have told our employees to send their family members outside of the country for the rest of the month," a company spokesman said.

May 20 marks the historic National Awakening Day, which has been cited by some as a date for large demonstrations.

The spokesman said Hitachi has about 60 Japanese employees in Indonesia and about 30 family members living with them.

Nippon Steel Corp. said it had told its employees to refrain from making business trips to Indonesia yesterday.

The company also recently told employees to send their family members out of Indonesia, but many have since returned, a company spokesman said.

It has not yet made a decision on whether or not to evacuate again, he added.

Spokesmen for Japanese industrial giants Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd and Toyota MotorCorp said their companies were still contemplating what to do with their employees in light of the turmoil which has erupted in Indonesia. (mds)