Manulife clients, employees in state of uncertainty
Manulife clients, employees in state of uncertainty
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian saying, "When two elephants fight, the deer in
the middle will die", aptly describes the fate of customers and
employees of PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia.
They find themselves in the middle of a two-year legal battle
with the company's former partner and 40 percent stakeholder, the
now defunct Dharmala group, which was declared bankrupt in 2000
and lost its stake in Manulife.
On Thursday, the Central Jakarta Commercial Court declared
Manulife's local branch, PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia
(AJMI), bankrupt after the caretaker of Dharmala filed the
bankruptcy suit due to an unpaid 1999 dividend amounting to some
Rp 22 billion that Dharmala believes it is owed.
While Manulife is in the process of filing an appeal to the
Supreme Court, the fate of 400,000 insurers and 4,000 employees
now appear to be hanging in the balance.
A housewife in Bogor who insured her daughter's education fund
with Manulife was stunned by the news. Speaking on condition of
anonymity, she claimed that she did not even know that Manulife
had been declared bankrupt.
"I don't know what to do, I will have to check it first with
my sister who works there," she told The Jakarta Post.
Realizing the need to insure the education fund for her four-
year-old daughter, she bought an education endowment policy from
Manulife upon her sister's recommendation. For the past two
years, she has paid the annual Rp 2 million premium.
"My sister recommended Manulife to me because its one of the
top insurance companies. How could I know it would go bankrupt,"
she muttered.
A media company employee, who also requested anonymity, said
that he was surprised with the verdict, which he called a
"ridiculous decision" but he said he was not worried about his
policy.
A Manulife policyholder for two years, he had a policy which
obliged him to pay an annual premium of about Rp 1.6 million
(US$176) for the next 20 years.
"I don't have any plans. I will just wait and see," he said.
"This is Indonesia, we know how the courts work," he remarked,
referring to the many alleged bribery cases that have come to
light in recent years.
A similar wait-and-see attitude was also expressed by
Manulife's employees, even though their fate is uncertain.
A 28-year-old man from the marketing department said he was
disappointed with the court's decision, but he was sure that the
company would win the appeal in the Supreme Court.
"We're getting used to this legal battle. Besides, so far, we
have won three times. I'm confident we will win again this time,"
he said.
However, he admitted that he did worry about his future
career. "I don't know. I haven't prepared to look for another
job," said the employee of two years.