Expelled from China, This Figure Becomes the King of Household Electronics in Indonesia
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The director of PT Indal Aluminium Industry Tbk. (INAI) deserves to be known to the Indonesian public for frequently appearing in advertisements for his products, namely Maspion. Alim Markus, known for the slogan “Love Indonesian Products,” actually has a unique history.
The Maspion Group itself oversees eight main business categories: Consumer Products Services, Industrial Consumer Products, Construction and Building Materials, Hotels, Commercial Property and Industrial Property, Banking, Trade and Distribution, Infrastructure and Energy, as well as various other businesses.
The success of the Maspion Group is inseparable from the figure of the man from China. Markus’s father, Lin Xueshan, hailed from Fujian. Like many Chinese people, he also ventured abroad to seek a new life.
After days of being tossed by the fierce ocean waves, he finally arrived in Surabaya. It was in this city that he built a new life. Later, he became known as Alim Husin.
Leo Suryadinata in Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: Biographical Dictionary (2012) reveals that Alim Husin was the founder of a business making aluminium cookware named UD Logam Djawa, which operated in the 1960s.
Through that business, Alim Husin began producing household items such as stoves and buckets. In addition, he also opened a shop for repairing water pumps and petromax lamps. In Surabaya, Alim Husin married and had an eldest son named Lin Wenguang.
Lin Wenguang later became known as Alim Markus. Markus was seriously educated by his father with the hope that he could run the business in the future. It is recorded that Markus took foreign language courses, studied in Taiwan, and attended business school at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in Singapore.
These efforts bore fruit. In 1971, the father and son founded a business called Jin Feng, meaning “golden peak.” The business focused on household appliances. Muhammad Ma’ruf in 50 Great Business Ideas From Indonesia (2010) states that Markus became the managing director. Gradually, Jin Feng transformed into Maspion.
Maspion itself is an acronym for Mengajak Anda Selalu Percaya Industri Olahan Nasional, or “Inviting You to Always Trust National Processed Industries.” Because of this, Markus and Maspion always promote the issue of “love domestic products.”
Under Markus, Maspion has 7,000 types of household products. This number makes Maspion the king of household appliances. From buckets and stoves to pipes, Maspion produces them on a large scale. Due to minimal competition, Maspion sells well.
Maspion does not only operate domestically. The company proves that domestic products can compete in the international market. It is recorded that its products are also marketed to the United States, Japan, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East.
In fact, in 1995, Maspion earned a profit of US$100 million from export trade and boldly established a Maspion branch in Canada. In 1989, Maspion also entered the banking business by founding Bank Maspion.
Becoming the king of household appliances has made Alim Markus crazy rich. He became one of the richest people in Indonesia with wealth of around US$500 million or Rp7.4 trillion.
Here are the subsidiaries of the Maspion Group: PT Bank Maspion Indonesia Tbk. (BMAS), PT Indalex, PT Indal Aluminium Industry Tbk. (INAI), PT Indal Gypsum Industry, PT Furukawa Indal Aluminium, PT Weilburger Coatings Indonesia, PT Cashew Grebe Indonesia, PT Indal Servis Sentra, PT Maspion Trading, PT Maxim Housewares Indonesia, Bumi Maspion, Citra Maspion Contractor, Maspion Kencana, Ishizuka Maspion Indonesia, Alaskair Maspion, Srithai Maspion Indonesia.