Anthony Salim is fortunate to be born with a silver spoon in his mouth. The actual worth of his father Liem Sioe Liong is said to match the world's richest men. Political fortunes may rise and fall and personalities who received patronage lose popularity according to the times. However, the Liem (Salim) family appears to have survived the turmoil of uprisings, racism and economic crises. Indeed, savvy players never fade away.
A few ultra rich Indonesian Chinese will give ethnic minorities a bad name, and the impression that all are wealthy, exploitative and oppressive against the native Indonesians. The reality is that most Indonesian Chinese belong middle class with some even in the lower income groups. They bear the brunt of attacks when things go wrong. They also struggle to build up what little they have that can vanish with every policy or regime change.
http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=26886&sec=1
http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=26886&sec=1
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Forbes magazine’s 2011 list of Indonesia’s richest people placed the leader of the Salim Group at fifth place, with a net worth of US$3.6 billion.
Anthony’s ranking in the Forbes’ lists over recent years has improved. In 2010, he was also in fifth place, higher than the ninth position he occupied in 2009. In 2008, Forbes put him at 11th position.
Anthony is the son of Sudono Salim, also known as Liem Sioe Liong, the founder of the Salim Group, which now controls dozens of major businesses including the world’s largest instant-noodle maker, PT Indofood Sukses Makmur.
Sudono, widely-known for his close connections to the Soeharto family, turned over the management of the group to Anthony in 1992.
Anthony is believed to have shifted the way he approaches power since Soeharto’s fall in 1998, which brought a revolutionary change in Indonesia’s politics.
“The tycoons’ secret to survival was basically in line with the political shift. The tycoons, who used to be centralized under Soeharto’s patronage, are now liberated, in the sense that the tycoons are now more motivated to create their own political networks,” political analyst Fachry Ali told The Jakarta Post.
Before Soeharto’s New Order regime collapsed, major Chinese-descent tycoons were mostly “affiliated” with Cendana (the name of the street where Soeharto’s private residence was located) and enjoyed facilities such as easier procedures for obtaining permits and very low risk of being stung with legal problems.
“On the other hand, Soeharto’s family members also benefitted from the patronage; while Soeharto himself utilized the patronage to dominate the government, the parliament, as well as the police and military,” Hendardi from the Setara Institute told the Post.
The reform movement in 1998 brought the nation to euphoria with the ending of the Soeharto-era cronyism.
But many Chinese-Indonesian moguls, who enjoyed the “glorious” New Order years, did not disappear; they merely shifted their “methods” in influencing power, Fachry said.
“Their capital posed significant attractions to political groups, which have become increasingly more diverse today. The richer a political party is, the greater its influence and ability to gain support,” Fachry said.
The Chinese-Indonesian couple Murdaya Widyawimarta Poo and Siti Hartati Tjakra Murdaya is a perfect example. After the fall of Soeharto, the tycoon couple entered the political arena.
Murdaya, who assumed 14th position on Forbes’ 2011 list, became an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker, while his wife joined Democratic Party.
Another example is Chinese-Indonesian tycoon Hary Tanoesudibjo, the owner of the media conglomerate, the MNC Group, who chairs the board of experts at the newly established Nasdem Party.
“In the past, Cendana was the only patron. Today, each of the moguls has become patron to the network established and controlled by the moguls,” Fachry said.
Although, he added, not all of the tycoons are eager to publicly disclose their political ties. “In most cases, they established their connections silently because the networks involved more than one political party,” he said.
