[asia-apec 154] The Slorc, Suharto link

[George J. Aditjondro]

Article in The Nation, Bangkok, September 30, 1996

                                        The Slorc, Suharto link
* Burma's military regime and the family of Indonesia's President Suharto
are no strangers to each other, writes George J. Aditjondro in Sydney
[actually, Newcastle]

Next week, from Oct 7 to 9, more than 300 students and others across the
USA, Canada, South Africa, and Australia, will participate in a fast
sponsored by the Free Burma Coalition. One of the themes of the fast is to
support the call of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for
Democracy (NLD) for immediate and complete withdrawal of all foreign
business from Burma.

Ironically, this call has fallen on the deaf ears of the Indonesian ruling
family, who have lately even intensified their investment and other
business deals with Burma's State Law and Order Council (Slorc). For them
it has been business as usual, as if nothing had happened on that dreadful
day on August 8, 1988, when hundreds of people lost their lives, and as if
the NLD had never won the election with an overwhelming 82 per cent vote,
two years later.

As I have written in an earlier article ("Suharto clan's global forestry
interests," The Nation, Sept 9), one of the first Indonesian investors in
Burma was PT Rante Mario, one of the numerous companies under the Humpuss
Group, controlled by President Suharto's youngest son, Hutomo Mandala
Putra, also known as as Tommy Suharto. Through a joint venture with a
Burmese state company, Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTI), PT Rante Mario is
planning to build a wood processing industry with an investment of US$ 75
million.

In the first five years (since 1994), this joint venture will only produce
logs and lumber. After that, it will go into plywood production, with a
total disregard for Burma's natural resources and beauty. According to WWF
data, Burma's natural environment is already worse off than Indonesia. As
published on page 42 in the Nov 20, 1995 edition of another business
journal, Warta Ekonomi, Burma has already lost 71per cent of its natural
habitat, compared with 49 per cent in the case of Indonesia. Area wise,
Indonesia still has nearly 750,000 square kilometres of natural habitat,
while Burma only has nearly 226,000 square kilometres. So, one can say that
to conserve Indonesia's own natural forest, President Suharto allows his
beloved youngest son to destroy a friendly nation's forest.

This young member of Suharto's kleptocracy has not only began to do
business with Burma's forestry industry. He began his acquantance with
Burma through his familiarity with the international oil companies, which
has been a 'family business' of the Suharto clan since the boom time of
Indonesia's national oil and gas mining company, Pertamina, which was led
in the 1970s by a Suharto crony and fellow Army general, Ibnu Sutowo
(Asiaweek , May 5, 1995, page 47).

Two years ago Tommy Suharto was already doing business with Unocal and
Total, two of the oil companies targeted to be boycotted by the world-wide
pro-Free Burma movement. He has a 20-year contract with Unocal and Total to
supply natural gas to Tommy's fertilizer industry in East Kalimantan, PT
Kaltim Methanol Industry (KMI).

It is still unclear where the natural gas comes from. According to Abdul
Wahab, KMI's director, the methanol will be imported, "among others,
methanol from Sabah, Malaysia, since the production of Pertamina's methanol
factory on Bunyu island in East Kalimantan, is not sufficient" (Swasembada
, February 1994). However, around the same time that he began to construct
his fertilizer factory, Tommy has also began to export explosives to Burma.
This was carried out by another of his numerous companies, PT Bina Reksa
Perdana, through a joint venture with Oiltech Service Singapore. Two years
ago, this company, in which Tommy owns 55% shares, has already received
orders amounting to more than US$ 4 million from Burma, India, Iraq, and
Australia (Tempo , June 4, 1994). So much for Suharto's youngest son,
Tommy.

Meanwhile, Bambang Trihatmojo, Suharto's second son, is involved in the
telecommunication industry in Burma. PT Elektrindo Nusantara, has invested
its capital in small telephone central units for 256 subscribers in
Rangoon, as a pilot project for a much bigger deal with the Slorc.
Elektrindo's stepping stone to Rangoon was Bangkok, where three years ago,
it had already become a supplier for the Royal Thai Airforce as well as the
Thai Department of Interior  (Warta Ekonomi, Sept 13, 1993;Swasembada, Aug
1995).

This company is 5i per cent owned by Bambang Trihatmojo, and forms one of
the main money-makers of Bambang's conglomerate, the Bimantara Group. One
of Bambang's brothers-in-law, Indra Rukmana, who is married to the Suhartos
eldest daughter, Siti Hariyanti Rukmana, also known as Mbak Tutut, is an
old school-mate and major business partner in Bimantara as well.
Meanwhile, last year another Bimantara company, PT Japfa Comfeed, had
already made plans to invest in animal feed companies in Burma, Vietnam,
and India (Warta Ekonomi, Nov 20, 1995).

As it turned out from further research in my Indonesian business data base,
Bambang has also indirectly entered Burma's forestry industry. According to
an Indonesian business magazine, Info Bisnis  of July 1884, another
Indonesian conglomerate, Barito Pacific, has also stretched its forestry
arm into Burma, apart from a multitude of other countries (Cambodia,
Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Suriname, Gabon and Zaire).

What has Barito Pacific to do with Bambang Trihatmojo? A lot. Although he
controls his own business group, Bimantara, Bambang is also a major
shareholder in Barito Pacific. This group is led by a Sino-Indonesian
businessman, Prajogo Pangestu. In the group's bank, Andromeda Bank, Bambang
owns 25 per cent shares, Prajogo 50 per cent, and another Sino-Indonesian
businessman, Henry Pribadi, also 25 per cent.

The third member of the extended Suharto family who plans to invest in
Burma is Hashim Djojohadikusumo. This rising star on the Indonesian
business firmament is a younger brother of Prabowo Subianto, one of
President Suharto's sons-in-law. Not only that. Prabowo's wife, Siti
Hediyati Harijadi, also known as Titiek Prabowo, is also an active partner
Hashim's numerous business enterprises. In fact, Hashim's Eka Persada Group
and Titiek Prabowo's Daya Tata Matra (Datam) Group have numerous
overlapping shareholders, including in one of Hashim's cement factories.

On Sept 19, Hashim anounced his plan to invest US$ 200 million in a new
cement factory in Burma. Although he already owns three cement factories in
Indonesia, he hopes that in October he might sign a memorandum of
understanding to build that cement factory with the Slorc. The planned
company will be 70 per cent owned by Indonesian companies, and 30 per cent
by a Burmese state company.

With a capacity of one million tons of cement per year, Hashim hopes that
his cement factory may be able to compete with China and Thailand made
cement on the Burmese market, which still imports 1.8 million ton of cement
per year.

Another reason why Hashim for to invest in Burma is that he is optimistic
that in two years time, Burma will become a full member of the Asean.
Consequently, Burma will also become a member of the Asean Free Trade Area
(Afta). This means that Indonesian companies will be able to market their
products freely in all Asean member countries, as all other Asean
citizens-owned companies are also free to market their products in
Indonesia (Media Indonesia, Sept 21, 1996).

As has happened with most of the juicy businesses of the Suharto family,
Hashim's businesses are also milking cows for the Indonesian Army. In
particular, milking cows for the most feared Army unit, Kopassus , also
known as the Red Berets. These troops, which have been involved in quelling
every major independence and other uprisings in Indonesia and East Timor,
are now commanded by Hashim's older brother, Mayor General Prabowo
Subianto.

More thant wo years ago, in an interview with The Asian Wall Street Journal
on Feb 2, 1993, Hashim stated that "if Prabowo needs funds, as a loyal and
dutiful brother, I'll provide them. He has a lot of soldiers to take care
of." At that time Prabowo was still a Lieutenant Colonel, and had fewer
soldiers to take care of compared with now, after he became the commander
of 3,000 Red Beret soldiers, which will soon be beefed up to 5,000 soldiers
(Straits Time , May 23, 1996).

Therefore it is no surprise that the Slorc generals like to do business
with Hashim, who also know how to please the Army. In fact, three years
ago, one of Hashim's companies, PT Prima Comexindo Trading (PCT), has
already bartered medicines made by an Indonesian state-owned company, Indo
Farma, with Burmese products (Gatra , April 29, 1995).

To avoid the confusion about the who-is-who's in the Suharto clan's
business relationship with the Slorc, let me summarize those involved as
follows. The Suharto couple have three daughters, Tutut, Titiek, and
Mamiek, and three sons, Sigit, Bambang, and Tommy. Tutut is married to
Indra Rukmana, and Titiek is married to Prabowo Subianto. Bambang and Indra
Rukmana, are involved in the Burma's telecommunication business. Bambang
himself, through his partnership in the Barito Pacific Group, is involved
in Burma's forestry business.

So is Tommy, who is also involved in Burma's mining and construction
business, by supplying the dynamites and probably be a customer of Total
and Unocal's natural gas fields. Tommy's eldest brother, Sigit
Harjojudanto, as well as Sigit's son, Ari Haryo Wibowo, are minor
shareholders in Tommy's Humpuss Group. Meanwhile, Titiek, through her
partnership with her brother-in-law, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, will certainly
become involved in Burma's cement business.

Finally, with all those first family members involved in doing business
fields with the Slorc, it is most likely that they have also been involved
in exporting PepsiCo products to Burma. Why? Because Indonesia's largest
conglomerate, the Salim Group, in which a foster brother of Suharto,
Sudwikatmono, and two of Suharto's kids, Sigit and Tutut are involved, is
the franchise holder of PepsiCo for Indonesia (Warta Ekonomi, June 13,
1994). This might be an additional reason for a world wide boycott of
PepsiCo.

This answers the question, why Suharto is so eager to cement -- both
literally as well figuratively -- his oligarchy's partnership with the
SLORC, by endorsing the Slorc's membership in Asean. This also explains,
why Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal to foreign companies, to cancel their
investment and trading plans with the Slorc, falls on the deaf ears of the
Suharto oligarchy.