More foreign firms quit Indonesian operations
More foreign firms quit Indonesian operations
TOKYO (Reuters): More foreign companies said they had decided to halt their operations in Indonesia and were taking steps to protect employees and clients from the violence there.
Among the top Japanese firms affected are Toyota Motor Corp, Hitachi Ltd, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi Ltd (BTM).
Other foreign companies, which temporarily closed their Indonesian offices included Swedish telecoms group Ericsson, International courier company Federal Express Corp, Taiwan food giant President Enterprises.
Travel agencies such as Japan Travel Bureau, the nation's largest, have canceled tours to Indonesia, which has been the scene of riots over President Soeharto's leadership since earlier this week.
At least 165 people, most believed to be looters, were killed in a Jakarta shopping mall fire set by other rioters, witnesses and officials said on Friday. Rioters set the mall on fire on Thursday but the bodies were not discovered until Friday morning.
Japan's biggest carmaker, Toyota, said it had stopped production at two factories it jointly set up with Indonesia's Astra International as of Thursday.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp and Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd also said they had halted operations at their plants in Indonesia.
None of their plants were damaged by the rioters, the automakers said.
They had decided to halt production as workers could not come to factories and supplies from parts makers were hard to come by due to the closure of some roads in Jakarta.
Electronics giant Hitachi said it halted operations at its two Indonesian factories on Friday to ensure the safety of workers, following up on action taken on Thursday when it told family members of its Japanese employees in Indonesia to evacuate outside of the country.
Japanese trading firms Marubeni Corp and Nissho Iwai Corp said they would postpone petrochemical projects in Indonesia.
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi said it closed its Jakarta branch on Friday and advised its workers to stay home.
Nippon Steel Corp and household products company Kao Corp said on Thursday they had told their employees to stop making business trips to Indonesia.
Swedish telecoms group Ericsson said yesterday it also closed its office in Jakarta on Thursday that employs some 500 people and is preparing to evacuate about 19 staff and their families.
Ericsson has no production units in Indonesia and its office there deals with sales and service.
International courier company Federal Express Corp said it had closed its office in Jakarta because of security concerns.
The company's chief economist Ting Ho said the firm had evacuated about 10 staff to Singapore as the firm could no longer guarantee safe deliveries in or out of Jakarta as traffic using the city's airport road has been attacked.
Taiwan food giant President Enterprises also said yesterday it had suspended operations of a joint-venture instant noodle plant in Indonesia and evacuated its workers.
General Motors Corp, British Aerospace Plc and City Developments Ltd have also closed their offices in Indonesia.
GM International said the Bekasi plant outside Jakarta, which makes Opel Blazers for the Indonesian market, had halted operations as of Thursday.
CDL Hotels unit Republic Hotels and Resorts had closed the Millenium Sirih Jakarta "due to the civil unrest in the city.