Indonesia Indofood To Lay Off 3,500 Workers By End 2005

JAKARTA (Dow Jones)--Indonesian food producer PT Indofood Sukses Makmur (INDF.JK) Wednesday said it has laid off 2,900 workers in the year to end-October in an effort to make the company more efficient.

"We plan to continue to lay off another 600 workers by the end of this year to improve efficiency," Indofood's Vice President Franky Welirang told reporters.

After the layoffs, Indofood's workforce will total 46,500.

The world's largest instant noodle maker by volume has spent IDR130 billion on compensation for laid-off workers to date.

"The layoffs, however, will save us up to IDR100 billion on salaries a year," said another Indofood Vice President, Cesar Dela Cruz.

Analysts said Indofood needs to streamline its workforce in order to maintain growth and increase its falling share of the noodle market.

Indofood currently has a 73% share of the national noodle market, down from around 90% in early 2000, due to stiffer competition.

Dela Cruz expects market share to increase to above 75% next year as the company plans to introduce new products.

Indofood, which is 51.5% owned by First Pacific Co. Ltd. (0142.HK), sells around 10 billion instant noodle packages every year.

Singapore accused of maid neglect

BBC News Report
Female migrant workers in Singapore face what amounts to forced labour due to a lack of legal protection, US-based rights campaigners say.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said domestic workers were overworked and frequently denied food, pay and social contact, as well as suffering physical abuse. Singapore's government said the report "grossly exaggerates" the situation.

Affluent Singaporeans often hire maids
from abroad like Indonesia

Maids working throughout South East Asia complain of abuse. HRW produced a similar report on Malaysia last year.

Some 150,000 women work as maids in Singapore, mainly from Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

The report paints a grim picture of young women trapped in apartment blocks, beaten, sometimes raped, killed or driven to suicide by their employers.

The authors of the report say they believe such abuse is widespread in Singapore. In the past six years, at least 147 domestic workers have died in the city state.

Excluded

The rights group interviewed 90 people and conducted case studies to compile its 128-page report, Maid to Order - Ending abuses against migrant domestic workers in Singapore.

HRW argues that by excluding maids from its Employment Act, Singapore is failing to comply with international law.

"A system that excludes a class of workers from labour protections, leaving them to work for 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for pitifully low wages is one that demands serious and meaningful reform," it says.

But Singapore's government denied it was exploiting the maids.

"On their own accord, FDWs [foreign domestic workers] choose to work in Singapore because of better conditions here compared to their home and other countries.

"Contrary to HRW's report, the majority of FDWs enjoy meaningful and safe employment in Singapore. An independent poll by Singapore Press Holdings in Dec 2003, revealed that over 80% of FDWs were happy to work in Singapore," the Ministry of Manpower said on its website.

Harsh conditions

One domestic worker cited in the report complained of overwork.

"Sometimes employers want the maid to clean until 2200 or midnight and to start working again at 0600," she said.

Another maid told HRW: "Sometimes there was not enough food... They bought food from outside, but not for me. When angry, [the employer] would throw my food in the rubbish... I was very scared. My employer told me, 'Tomorrow you have a punishment, no eating.'"

Foreign and domestic workers in Singapore at present have no right to any time off. As of next year, employers will be obliged to give them one day off a month or financial compensation.

But the report says the women should be given the same rights as other workers in Singapore.

The authors say Singapore is by no means the worst offender in the region, but they argue that this tightly controlled city state could improve conditions very easily, giving many thousands of vulnerable women greater control over their lives.

Indonesia worries about possible Christmas terrorism

Jakarta (dpa) - Indonesia is boosting security ahead of the Christmas and New Year's holiday season with intelligence pointing to possible terror attacks, local media reported this morning.

Syamsir Siregar, head of State Intelligence Agency (BIN), said that his agency had learned of possible plans by terrorists to launch attacks at the end of this month, the Jakarta Post reported.

"There are plans for terror activities in large cities such as Jakarta," Syamsir Siregar said after a ceremony at the state palace.

Senior Jakarta police officials said they would deploy some 17,000 officers to safeguard the capital, particularly churches, malls and tourist destinations, during the holiday season.

Security will also be boosted, including the installation of closed-circuit television monitors at big churches, in five cities in Central Java where terror attacks might be carried out, police said.

Indonesia has been the site of several deadly terror attacks in recent years, including simultaneous church bombings around Christmas 2000, which left at least 19 people dead.

Islamic militants also launched attacks in Bali in 2002, leaving at least 202 people dead; at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003, killing 12; outside the Australian embassy in September 2004, killing 11 and wounding about 180; and again in Bali on October 1 this year, leaving 23 dead.

Although chief bombmaker and suspected mastermind of some of the attacks, Malaysian Azahari bin Husin, was killed in a raid by police last month, his accomplice and another leading suspect in the attacks, Noordin Top, is still one of Indonesia's most-wanted fugitives.