How to make a billion bucks: A tragic satire<\/p>\n
Andrew I. Sriro
\nLawyer and Member
\nCalifornia State Bar
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
I was recently introduced to a new business idea by a fellow
\nlawyer here in Jakarta. It looked almost too good to be true but
\nbased on some recent high profile Indonesian court cases
\ndescribing a similar structure, the market potential seems
\nunlimited and I wanted to share it with you.<\/p>\n
Here's the opportunity: Just go to the international financial
\nmarket and borrow a few hundred million or even a billion
\ndollars, or any other amount that seems beyond your wildest
\ndreams, put up substantial assets as guarantee for repayment, and
\nthen (here's the beauty of it) -- just default.<\/p>\n
When the creditors start to press for payment and threaten
\nforeclosure of the assets you pledged, just follow these two
\nsimple steps:<\/p>\n
First, tell the creditors that their threats are causing you
\nemotional distress. Never mind that you are a corporate entity,
\nyou can feel pain and suffering just like a real person, everyone
\nknows that. And, no matter what manner your creditors use to ask
\nyou to meet your obligations, tell them they are greedy and
\nimpolite and they should be more civilized.<\/p>\n
Second, sue the creditors and investors who provided funds for
\nyour loan in the Indonesian court of your choice, request
\nannulment of the transaction and remember to tack on a claim for
\na few hundred million dollars in tort damages for emotional
\ndistress. Don't worry about legal theories. Just have your lawyer
\nwrite some mambo jambo and leave it to the defendants to figure
\nout what you are talking about. The courts will understand.<\/p>\n
Also, don't forget to request an injunction prohibiting all
\notherwise lawful enforcement actions by the creditors. And, while
\nyou're at it, ask the court for attachment orders over all of
\nyour own assets, yes those assets you promised in guarantee of
\nyour obligations. That will stop any ambitious creditors from
\nselling your booty.<\/p>\n
Sounds too good to be true? Still not convinced? You will be
\nwhen you realize that some of the leaders of the business
\ncommunity have already bought into variations of this low risk
\nventure. So why not you!?!<\/p>\n
Because of the great interest among businessmen in-the-know,
\nthe fact that others are doing it only enhances your chances for
\nsuccess. "Why?" you ask. Simple. Because the ground work has been
\ndone for you by others.<\/p>\n
And, that's not all. You don't even have to wait until the
\nfinal court decision to realize your gains. That's right. When
\nyou file your lawsuit, you will effectively kill off all trade in
\nthe market for your bonds or notes. Even if the injunction you
\nobtain from the court prohibiting trading is not enough, the risk
\nthat an Indonesian court will rule in your favor and thereby
\nannul your debt obligations will send the trading price crashing
\nto the floor, and then you can buy back your notes at a heavy
\ndiscount. As you can plainly see, there are so many ways for you
\nto win!<\/p>\n
And if you do wait for a final court decision (which could
\ntake up to five years), you can run your business right into the
\nground during the on-going legal battle, run up trade debts and
\nsqueeze out all of the profits. Then, if you loose your case, so
\nwhat! Think about it. What's the worst thing that can happen?<\/p>\n
Your creditors might try to file for bankruptcy leading to the
\nauction of all of your company's assets as a going concern. You
\ncan threaten potential purchasers with more litigation to drive
\ndown the price and then you can buy the assets back yourself at
\nauction at a deep discount with a clean balance sheet. You could
\nalso have your company acknowledge the existence of some new
\nconvenient and very sizable debts to enable you to control the
\nbankruptcy creditors committee. You just can't lose.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the rest of the country does lose when you
\ngouge the heart and soul out of Indonesia. This is where the
\nsatire stops and where your decision to join the latest business
\ncraze gives you instant membership to the ranks of what I call
\nthe "enemies of justice".<\/p>\n
These enemies of justice trade away the chance for social
\nstability achievable only through steadfast adherence to property
\nrights, rationality and reason and leave corruption, blackmail
\nand extortion as the rule of order for current and future
\ngenerations.<\/p>\n
It is not the first explorers and traders who sailed galleons
\nacross the Seven Seas, or colonialists from the European
\nRenaissance or the fascists of World War II who are responsible
\nfor today's tyranny. It is a few Indonesians themselves who
\ndevour the soul of this great Nation. It is those few individuals
\nwho fail through merit to successfully and efficiently operate
\nthe natural resource and strategic industry grants they received
\nfrom the despotic rulers of previous feudal administrations.
\nInstead, these men resort to the injection of the poison of
\nunrestrained boundless greed where any means are deemed
\nappropriate to preserve and enhance their power.<\/p>\n
They trade away, or rather grind down to dust, the true jewels
\nin the crown of the Indonesian Nation, the same jewels in the
\ncrowns of every nation; namely, the drive to succeed based upon
\nmerit through the development of the creativity and skills
\nnecessary to enable scientific, artistic, social, political and
\neconomic evolution, the belief that through fairness and peace,
\nprosperity will flourish.<\/p>\n
The enemies of justice are metaphysical killers. If you join
\nthem or if you are already one of them, you choose to meet
\nvirtues and principals, not with the natural love which such
\ncharacter extols, but rather with a hatred that grows
\nexponentially from the need to maintain an unnatural system of
\nincongruity of successive moral debasements, a system built on
\nthe instability of power based upon might and fright.<\/p>\n
The more you succeed in the pursuit of unjust gains, the more
\ncomplicated and precarious your survival becomes and the greater
\ntoo does your need to firmly root a cultural norm of greed and
\ndishonesty in Indonesian society to allow for the preservation of
\nyour system of abuse. The enemies of justice know that should
\nthey fail, their fate would be their greatest nightmare: They
\nwould be devoured in a feeding frenzy by the monsters they
\ncreated.<\/p>\n
The enemies of justice are our enemies and the enemies of
\nfuture generations. They would like us to believe that we are
\npowerless. They would like us to accept the fact that we must
\nlive with injustice governed by those who are inhumane. But they
\nare wrong. Justice does matter and we must speak out to preserve
\nany chance of victory.<\/p>\n
These people would like to assume the role of surrogate
\nteachers of our children. They would like to cripple our children
\nby eliminating references to good, by teaching them that there is
\nno rational social structure or rules based on values and
\njustice. They would like to teach our children that all
\nsubjective desires are obtainable through dishonesty and
\nmanipulation, that expediency is a principle of morality.<\/p>\n
The situation is grave. The enemies of justice are fighting to
\nset the dominant values of this society. But we are clearly still
\nonly in the negotiation stage. There are no set conclusions.
\nVictory is not yet theirs. It is not too late for Indonesia. The
\ncourts have not yet finally decided these cases through the last
\nopportunities for appeal. Government officials still have the
\noption of steering the courts through supervision and independent
\nreview, expedited appeals on matters of national importance and
\nthe dismissal of judges with poor decisions records.<\/p>\n
Now is the time for Capital Market Supervisory Agency
\n(BAPEPAM) to act, for the police to prosecute the frauds
\narrogantly admitted in court documents by the enemies of justice,
\nfor Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), the Coordinating
\nMinister of Economy, the Minister of Industry and Trade and the
\nMinister of Labor, the Minister of Education and the Minister of
\nSocial Affairs to investigate and speak out on the real effects
\nof court cases brought to abuse creditors.<\/p>\n
Now is the time for the political parties to prove their
\ncommitments to reform by fighting for justice. They should
\nclearly recognize that foreigners are merely being targeted as a
\nproxy to strip ordinary Indonesian citizens of their most
\nfundamental right, the right to the just, clear, consistent and
\nequal application of laws to all members of society.<\/p>\n
Talk of moral values has not become clichi. Hope and activism
\nare our greatest weapons. Doing nothing is exactly the reaction
\nour enemies expect from us. Let us not comply. Instead, we must
\nembrace and fight for the importance of ideas, truth, rationality
\nand reason.<\/p>",
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