Business acumen

About half a century ago, in the beginning of the 1950s, when Indonesia had just got rid of the yoke of colonialism, the government thought it expedient to create a class of Indonesian entrepreneurs. Naturally capital was needed to do business. So a unique incentive system was introduced. Almost all import commodities were confined to Indonesian (read indigenous, although not officially stated) importers. This prompted tycoons, manufacturers, etc. to import from abroad through intermediaries of the so-called Benteng group of importers -- for a certain commission of course.

It was also a windfall for the numerous brokers at that time. I would categorized the Benteng group of importers into two groups. Group A consisted of shrewd people who had a certain (inborn) business sense: although the so-called "indent" commissions accumulated to a sizable amount, they lived a frugal life and used the commissions as working capital. When the indenter ordered a particular commodity, the importer added, for instance, 10 percent (which became larger as time went on) of the letter of credit (L/C) amount for his own account, in order to avoid buying unsalable commodities. And it was not so difficult to find a buyer for that commodity in the market.

By and large, such Benteng importers became not only rich, but they became businessmen of international repute, starting from scratch.

Let's take a look at the B-group importers. This group consisted of happy-go-lucky people, who regarded this special incentive from the government a reward for their struggle for the country's independence. Unlike the A-group people, they bought a mansion and a Mercedes-Benz in order to enhance their prestige as soon as they were financially in a position to do so.

A. DJUANA

Jakarta