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SCMP Reporter

After being banished to the corporate wilderness for almost a decade, Indonesia's Soeryadjaya family has been taking advantage of their country's political rebirth to rebuild their former empire.

 Having stared bankruptcy in the face, Edward Soeryadjaya and his father William are boldly talking about spearheading Indonesia's high-technology revolution, constructing a giant 'Cybercity', seeking a Nasdaq listing, and launching their answer to CNN.

 Until 1992, the Soeryadjayas had been one of the most prominent business families in Indonesia, founding the country's largest car-maker, Astra International.

 However, their fortunes soured when they were forced to cede control of Astra to some of their fiercest business rivals to rescue their family bank, Bank Summa.

 These efforts proved to be in vain. Soon after, Bank Summa was forced into receivership after the government of president Suharto threatened to close it down following a run by depositors.

 'The Summa case was a dark chapter in our lives. We fell into a trap,' Edward, 53, recently recalled.

 Having fallen out of favour with the Suharto regime, the Soeryadjayas spent much of the 1990s waiting in the wings, biding their time by scouring the region for alternate business opportunities.

 Mr Suharto's downfall and the subsequent appointments of President Abdurrahman Wahid and vice-president Megawati Sukarnoputri have given the Soeryadjayas the impetus to reclaim their seats at the head of Indonesia's corporate table.

 Mr Wahid and Ms Megawati's appointments last month could not have been more timely.

 Throughout their dark days, the family maintained a business relationship with Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim group, which Mr Wahid headed until elected president.

 They teamed up with the group in the late 1980s to set up small rural banks across Java to help boost the well-being of Nahdlatul Ulama members, mostly farmers and small traders.

 Although the plan was to set up 2,000 branches, only 15 were opened due to opposition from the Suharto regime.

 The Soeryadjayas ties are even closer with Ms Megawati. The vice-president, daughter of Indonesia's first president, had been Indonesia's opposition leader during much of Suharto's 32-year authoritarian reign.

 Edward's wife, who died in 1977, had been Ms Megawati's half-sister.

 He recently married Atilah Rapatriati, whose brother is husband to one of Ms Megawati's sisters.

 The Soeryadjayas never dreamed their family members would rise to such political heights and have publicly pledged not to exploit their connections.

 Meanwhile, the Soeryadjayas business fortunes have coincidentally staged a simultaneous rebound.

 The prime beneficiary has been debt-laden Singapore-listed construction and engineering firm L&M Group Investments, of which Edward became chairman six months ago.

 It has emerged as a bridgehead between domestic business and foreign investors in the new Wahid era.

 The Soeryadjayas have been courted by United States-listed MyWeb and more recently by Microsoft to provide Internet services across Indonesia.

 Separately, the Soeryadjayas have agreed to team up with the Indonesian and Japanese governments to build Indonesia's answer to Silicon Valley, a high-tech park covering 44 hectares of Jakarta's old Kemayoran airfield, which is about six kilometres from the capital.

 Called Cybercity, it would be a centre for e-commerce, software research and development, telecommunications and multimedia, styled on Malaysia's Multi-Media Super Corridor.

 The Indonesian side would comprise William Soeryadjaya's Griya Nusantara, the Indonesia central government and the Jakarta city government.

 Their Japanese partners would include the Japan Bank for International Co-operation and 57 private sector firms going under the umbrella of Jakarta Development Corp-Japan.

 William is being tipped to become the consortium's chairman, while L&M has won a contract to develop the project's 10-hectare city centre.

 L&M is also teaming up with TV3 of Malaysia and Global Informasi Bermutu of Indonesia among others to launch Global TV, a round-the-clock international news-based television station to be based in Cybercity.

 Separately, a consortium headed by Newbridge Capital and Gilbert Global Equity Capital of the US has reportedly sounded out the Soeryadjayas to see whether they would be interested in helping regain control of Astra, the company they founded.

 The Newbridge-Gilbert consortium has been named as a preferred bidder for a 40 per cent stake in Astra soon to be sold by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency for more than US$500 million.

 The Soeryadjayas are eager to get back into Astra's boardroom, but sadly admit they are still strapped for cash.

 'Although we would like to return to the company that we built up, at this time we don't have the resources or funds to realise this,' William wrote in a letter published in the daily newspaper Bisnis Indonesia.

 Whatever the result, clearly Indonesia's comeback kings have returned and are ready to reclaim their throne.



Indonesia's business kings return to empire building