$16b expected to return from S'pore: Report
$16b expected to return from S'pore: Report
SINGAPORE (AFP): A fifth of US$80 billion in funds that fled
Indonesia when unrest was at its height is expected to return
following the election of a new leadership, the Singapore
Business Times said Tuesday.
New President Abdurrahman Wahid was given the estimate by a
number of Indonesian tycoons who had fled the country during
turmoil of the past two years, it reported.
Quoting an unidentified member of the president's inner
circle, the paper said Wahid had received a commitment from the
mostly ethnic-Chinese tycoons that Indonesian funds parked in
Singapore and other countries would return.
Wahid, known popularly as Gus Dur, had agreed to the
businessmen's request for security guarantees in exchange, the
Business Times said.
Some of the tycoons named are Liem Sioe Liong, also known as
Sudono Salim, the patriarch of the Salim group, and Eka Cipta
Wijaya, head of the Sinar Mas group.
"Gus Dur has got a commitment that $16 billion worth of funds
now parked in Singapore and elsewhere will return to Indonesia,"
the source was quoted as saying.
The source is said to be well informed about Wahid's expected
visit to Singapore this Saturday during which the issue of the
return of Indonesian capital is expected to feature prominently.
According to the report, the expected return of the funds was
being coordinated by a group of Indonesian businessmen in
Singapore.
The Indonesian central bank has estimated that $80 billion
flowed out of Indonesia after the Asian financial turmoil erupted
in mid-1997 and long-ruling president Suharto was deposed amid
violent unrest in May 1998.
During his Singapore visit to kick off a whistle-stop
Southeast Asian tour, Wahid is expected to meet members of the
Indonesian as well as international business community.
The Business Times said Indonesia's new foreign minister, Alwi
Shihab, had told the newspaper before he was formally appointed
to the post that Indonesia hoped for Singapore's understanding on
the return of Indonesian capital.
"We would like the Singapore government to encourage business
people who are related to Indonesia, to come back. Most of them
have offices in Singapore. The encouragement of the Singapore
government will be highly appreciated," Alwi was quoted saying.
Salim has kept up a presence in Singapore, Hong Kong and other
cities while building a huge business empire in Indonesia through
his connections during the Suharto era.