CT Reveals the Identity of the 'Greatest Enemy'

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The Chairman of CT Corp, Chairul Tanjung, has revealed the figure he considers to be the “greatest enemy” in a person’s life, including in the management of finances. That figure is not someone else, but rather “oneself.”

According to the man affectionately known as CT, the ability to exercise self-control is key to ensuring that an individual does not fall into wasteful or consumerist behaviours once they begin to earn an income or accumulate wealth.

“The greatest enemy is oneself; if we know ourselves and can defeat ourselves,” CT stated during the Lampung Financial Festival 2026 on Saturday (5/9/2026).

He cited the example of someone who has successfully earned money. When possessing excess funds, such individuals are often driven to engage in “flexing” or flaunting their wealth.

However, according to CT, that money would provide greater benefits if restrained and subsequently allocated towards investments or business development.

“For example, once you have earned money, you might want to flex your wealth, even though if you can exercise restraint and invest it or use it for business, the results will be more useful,” he said.

CT believes that the ability to restrain one’s impulses is a vital part of building success. He noted that this principle is also taught within religious teachings.

“So, fight against your worldly desires, as this is taught by religion,” he asserted.

In addition to the ability to exercise self-control, CT also reminded the audience of the importance of learning from failure. He believes that failure should not merely be viewed as an end result, but must serve as a basis for evaluation.

He stated that an individual needs to identify the causes of failure so that the same mistakes are not repeated.

“With failure, you must find out what the cause was. Once you know, it can be avoided and continuously addressed so that all errors can be eliminated,” he said.

CT also emphasised the importance of continuously honing one’s knowledge. He believes that knowledge and thinking skills need to be trained consistently so that an individual can make decisions more quickly and rationally.

“Knowledge must be continuously sharpened. If trained, and memory is trained, one can make decisions quickly and rationally,” he concluded.