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.