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The handsome Hotel Indonesia, built in Djakarta during the heyday of Sukarno and equipped with everything but paying guests, is suddenly bustling. Checking in last week for extended stays were businessmen from half a dozen nations. American executives, encouraged by the State Department and newly protected by the U.S. Government against investment losses caused by revolution or expropriation, came with plans for everything from stepping up tire production to developing tourism in the archipelago republic.

Old Wrongs. All this came in response to the fact that with Sukarno fading fast, the triumvirate that replaced him seems determined to rebuild Indonesia's commercial bridges. Many old wrongs remain to be righted before the new dreams can begin. When Sukarno in 1964 began forcing foreign firms into a plan called "production sharing"--a euphemism for expropriation--the U.S. investment alone in Indonesia amounted to more than $520 million. Only two oil companies, Caltex (owned by Texaco and Standard Oil of California) and Stanvac (owned by Jersey Standard and Mobil), managed to keep operating. Other companies lost longtime investments: U.S. Rubber had to give up 54,000 acres of rubber plantation, and Goodyear Tire & Rubber lost two plantations and a tire plant at Bogor, near the capital. Though ridiculously low repayments were negotiated, no money has yet changed hands; a first order for the Sultan of Jogjakarta, the triumvirate member charged with economic development, is to work out settlements.

The Sultan and Indonesia's new boss Suharto have plenty of other economic problems. Inflation is rampant, and Sukarno, who scorned foreign aid, left the country with massive international debts. Suharto's "New Order," though, is beginning to make some order out of the mess, with advice from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. A moratorium has been arranged on debt repayments, a total of $230 million in aid has been arranged from nations in both the East and West blocs, and Suharto hopes to achieve a balanced national budget of $813 million this year. Most significantly, the Indonesian Congress last month passed a liberal investment law. It provides for a five-year tax holiday on new developments, relaxes import duties on new equipment, allows repatriation of profits, and offers fair compensation at such a time as the Indonesians are able to take over any industry and run it themselves. "We really need foreign capital for our nation's development," said Suharto in explaining the new law.

Lured by such overtures, old Indonesia hands are filtering back. U.S. Rubber has replaced its former Indonesian output through other plantations in Liberia and Malaysia, but it will likely buy Indonesian rubber. Goodyear is negotiating to return. Its first task if it does: to restore efficiency at the Bogor plant, where tire output is off two-thirds since U.S. managers were kicked out. Union Carbide hopes to reclaim its battery plant, may also start tungsten mining. Caltex, which recently signed a five-year $50 million contract to supply the Indonesian government with lubricating oils and grease, has set aside $10 million to open a new oil field in addition to its present 310,000 barrels-a-day operation; it will also construct additional pier facilities for tankers.

New Investors. Companies that never before operated in Indonesia are investigating the scene too. One visitor last week was Eastern Air Lines President Floyd Hall, in Djakarta to talk about the possibilities of a joint operation in the islands with Garuda Airways, the national airline. U.S. Steel is contemplating nickel mining in West Irian, Freeport Sulphur is surveying copper prospects, and no fewer than 19 companies are competing for the right to drill for offshore oil around the big islands of Sumatra, Java and Borneo.

Americans, who may eventually spend about $100 million altogether on Indonesian ventures, are getting competition from other nations. Among the 19 bidders for offshore oil rights are French, Canadian, Japanese and Australian companies. Italy's Lambretta is dickering to build a motor-scooter plant to put more of Indonesia's 107 million people on wheels. The Netherlands' Philips' Electric, through a subsidiary, intends to start a radio-parts factory.

For Suharto and his government, flattered by so many foreign arrivals, the testing time is still ahead. "The ideas," said one U.S. executive in Djakarta last week, "are all good, sound and logical. The big problem now is implementing these beautiful ideas." That may take a long while, but at least a start is being made.

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