Ciputra lives with dreams

T. Sima Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta

He is 74 years old. But Ciputra, the man who built Ancol Dreamland in North Jakarta, the Pondok Indah Malls in South Jakarta, and more than 20 townships in the country remains active in his property business.

He comes to his office every day, meeting clients and customers, and visiting his projects inside and outside the country. He takes an active part in meetings and discussions, playing a key role in making strategic decisions.

The old man is in good physical shape and says he is still going strong.

"I am healthy because of my strict diet. I can eat anything but I don't eat everything," he said.

To keep his body fit, Ciputra, who once joined the National Sports Week (PON) as a sprinter also plays golf and swims.

His formal position is president commissioners of PT Jaya Real Property Tbk and PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol Tbk (Jaya Group), a joint venture with the Jakarta administration, PT Metropolitan Land and PT Metropolitan Kentjana (Metropolitan Group) and subsidiaries of Ciputra Group involved with the property business.

Ciputra, whose Chinese name is Tie Tjin Hoan, was born in a small village of Parigi in South Sulawesi, on Aug. 24, 1931. When he was 12 years old he lost his father when the Japanese soldiers kidnapped him. The hardship in his childhood motivated Ciputra, the youngest of four siblings, to study and work hard.

He went to the Bandung Institute of Technology, majoring in architecture, and upon his graduation in 1960 he established the Jaya Group. In 1971, along with friends he set up the Metropolitan Group. Ten years later, Ciputra and his four children built Ciputra Group.

Since 1980 the Metropolitan Group has invested in Singapore and Hawaii while in 1990 Ciputra Group built a five-star hotel and Ciputra International City in Hanoi, Vietnam, the biggest real estate project in the country. Recently he started to build a new township in Calcutta and he is now planning to open business in Cambodia, Malaysia, China and the Arab Emirates.

Ciputra, who collects the works of Hendra Gunawan and enjoys sculpting, has received many honors for his work, including three Satya Lencana awards from the president, and an award from the International Real Estate Federation.

He has four children from his marriage to Dian Sumeler and has nine grand children. All of them used to live together in a big house in Pondok Indah. Two of the children have moved out of the house, however.

Below is an excerpt of The Jakarta Post's interview with Ciputra in his office on Jl. Satrio, South Jakarta, last week.

Question: Your parents opened a grocery store. Why did you not follow in their steps?

Answer: My father was arrested by the Japanese troops who wrongly accused him of being a spy. Until this day I don't know where he is buried. I was 12 years old then. If he did not die, maybe I would have continued my parents' business. But his death stirred me up to extricate myself from poverty. So I decided to go to school in Java.

Why did you choose architecture?

Since I was a kid, I liked construction. When my father rebuilt a small warehouse, I said: "If this bar was pulled out, the building would collapse." Father was quite surprised. I also liked geometry, my score for the subject was 10.

You should have a vision in your life. You have to imagine what you want to be and that should be your focus, your ideal.

Many people have the imagination, but they can't make it true.

That's because there is no determination. You have to be determined to realize it, otherwise it will only become a dream. A dream will not become an innovation if there is no realization.

Do you have any dream which has not been realized?

To become a successful businessman.

You are.

That's not enough. There are still many things to do. I have built more than 20 townships, and I want to build more, for example in Manado I want to build a resort city.

I also dream of building a recreation park with the theme -- flora and fauna. I want to build a multi-national corporation, that can invest not only in Indonesia but also in other countries all over the world.

When I sleep, I often imagine designs. In the car, anywhere, I also like to imagine.

Are you saying that you often dream about designs?

Sometimes. And this is funny. I want to build a recreation park and I was thinking what would be the most fun in the park and when I slept, I dreamt about animation, like computer animals, robot animals. And then (when I woke up) I gave it a thought, the robots should have artistic and complicated movements.

When you are in bed, do you keep on thinking?

That's my weakness. I suffer from insomnia. But I don't worry about my brain which works all the time. When I can't sleep I often have ideas and in the morning, before I work, I am ready with the idea.

How long do you sleep?

I am in bed for about seven hours, but I sleep only five or four hours. That's my weakness but also my strength. Before I meet you (for the interview), I have already thought about what I would say.

At night, do you always think about what you will do in the morning?

Yes. Beethoven and many other great composers had insomnia and when they could not sleep they often got ideas to create their work.

Have you ever tried to cure your insomnia?

I did. But this did not work, so I just live with it. Because I like to think, I find it difficult to sleep, and because I find it difficult to sleep, I think. (he laughs).

How do you stay healthy?

I am on diet. I can eat anything because I don't eat everything. I have a strict diet. It is not the food that chooses me, it is I who chooses the food. I am the one who decides what I eat and what I avoid.

What kind of food do you avoid?

Anything with cholesterol.

What is your favorite food?

Manado food. The fish from Lake Tondano is the best in the world. The water and the plankton are different. The water is clear. There is the nike fish, which is like an anchovy. Make fish balls by adding flour and fry them with coconut oil. Eat with dabu-dabu (chili and green tomato). It's delicious.

Can you cook?

I don't cook. But I know how the food is prepared. Once, about 10 years ago I joined a fun cooking contest in Ancol. The night before the contest, I asked my wife how to make fried rice and I imagined it. I won, beating the other contestants, including the then director general of tourism Joop Ave, the city governor and other high-ranking officials. What's important was the taste of the food and the presentation. I decorated the food with tomato, cucumber and egg.

I understand that you are really into art, not only the art of cooking.

That's my hobby. Look at that sculpture. I made it myself, inspired by the work of Hendra Gunawan. (He points at a statue in his room and takes a book about Hendra Gunawan from the table). This is the most beautiful sculpture in the world. It could be put in a museum in Singapore, London or New York. While this one (he showed a picture of a sculpture) is the statue of (national hero) Diponegoro. Many people are talking about it but I don't want to be involved in the controversy.

There is indeed a controversy over the statue, because the city administration plans to erect the statue in Surapati Park and replace the statue of Kartini. (This plan has drawn a mixed reaction from critics, with some saying the move would erode the historical values of the Kartini statue)

I don't want to be involved in the controversy. What I know is that this statue is quite beautiful. Made of bronze, it took me three months to make. It is four meters and a half high and the stand is also four and a half meters.

A work of art must be beautiful. Like poems.

Do you also paint?

I used to paint, but now I am too busy to paint. I prefer sculpting than painting.

Do you like poems?

I like Chairil Anwar. And I like the Lebanese poet, Khalil Gibran, more. Oh, that's crazy. Crazy... His philosophy... is quite extraordinary, so moving. His poems about marriage ... and those about works drive me to work.

Anyway, how can the property business contribute in such a difficult economic situation like today?

We need foreign exchange, we have to boost investment, to attract foreign investors. Other countries like Malaysia issue land certificates that are valid for between 70 and 100 years, why does Indonesia issue only 30 years, which can be extended? It should be at least 100 years. Because we lag behind the other countries in law and security, we should allow a longer time (for the right to use land or a building). The return of investment in Singapore and Malaysia is much higher than Indonesia. Foreigners are reluctant to buy property here.

Indeed, there is a strict regulation about foreigners who want to buy properties here.

This regulation should be revised. You know, I have just returned from Dubai, it has a population of 200,000 locals and 800,000 foreigners. Ninety-five percent of people who buy property there are foreign investors.

Some say that the government is xenophobic.

Such a sentiment should be dismissed. In the past the colonial government made our life difficult, but we have to bury the past (sentiment). Don't regard all foreigners as colonizers.

About your philosophy of life, you say that you are anti-KKN (corruption, collusion and nepotism), could you elaborate?

One important thing that Indonesia must have but we lack, is integrity, including honesty, openness and justice.

How can one rebuild integrity?

Starting from schools, starting from the teachers, there should be more attention paid to their welfare ... Our leaders should become a models, they must be anti-KKN. The law must be upheld. Anyone who is wrong must be penalized.

Development makes Jakarta beautiful, but it also has negative impacts, like flooding.

People should be disciplined, they should dump their garbage properly and the garbage is not being transported properly even though there is a huge budget spent on garbage removal.

How about the developers? The development of your housing project, Pantai Indah Kapuk, in North Jakarta, reportedly caused floods.

No, the flood were not because of PIK but because many water pumps did not work. Sometimes we are wrongly accused. These are the risks we run in life. Anyway, I have sold my shares in PIK and also in Bumi Serpong Damai because of the crisis (which started in 1997).

Many people cannot afford to buy a house. What is your opinion about this?

Last year we built 3,900 houses which cost less than Rp 50 million, including those in Tangerang and Jonggol.

How about low-cost apartments?

I'd like to build them, too. But later. We are still busy with the land that we already bought a long time ago.

I want to propose to the government to make a Central Providence Fund, like Singapore and Malaysia have. It would be like the Jamsostek (pension program), but the fund would be for housing. A portion of employees salaries is taken and put into the fund that is established by the employer, the government and the trade union. In Singapore, they have collected more than US$100 million and 75 percent of people's houses are built from that fund.

What are the prospects for the property market?

For domestic market, there are malls, trade centers and housing projects. These business runs well. But for the foreign market, the property business including industrial estates, office buildings and hotels, has yet to return to normal because the foreign investors (who fled the country following the economic crisis) have not returned.

The value of rupiah is weakening. Don't you worry about its impact on the property business?

A little bit. There is a little worry which is proportional and becomes an incentive for us to be more creative and innovative, such as in house designs, the concepts, the use of materials, and the way we sell the property.