Manulife not planning revenge, vows to focus on customers

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Canadian insurance giant Manulife Financial Corp. pledged to concentrate on serving its policyholders instead of seeking revenge after a costly bankruptcy dispute with its former local partner here.

Executive vice president of Manulife for Asia, Victor Apps, said on Wednesday that its local unit, PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife Indonesia (AJMI), would look forward to focusing its effort totally on enhancing services to policyholders.

"We're not looking for revenge, all sides are losers. Our hope is that all these actions will soon come to a close and hopefully you can start reporting on us as an insurance company and not as a litigator," Apps told reporters in his first press conference since the Supreme Court annulled last Friday a bankruptcy ruling on AJMI.

AJMI was declared bankrupt on June 13 by the Commercial Court after a receiver of Manulife's local partner, the now defunct PT Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera (DSS) filed a bankruptcy petition over what it claimed was an unpaid dividend in 1999.

But Manulife has said that shareholders did not authorize any dividend for that particular period. The controversial bankruptcy ruling has unnerved investors and nearly triggered a diplomatic feud between Canada and Indonesia.

AJMI was forced to shut down its 73 branches for a few days following the bankruptcy ruling, creating uncertainty with its 400,000 policyholders and nearly 4,000 employees. Some hospitals had even rejected patients' Manulife health insurance policies.

Meanwhile, the DSS receiver, Paul Sukran, reportedly was planning to file another suit and may request a judicial review against the Supreme Court's ruling.

Apps that there were early indications that DSS would withdraw its claims against the company but there was still the threat of further action.

"I can't say with certainty that our adversaries here have completely given up...but I believe the Supreme Court ruling is a watershed in the process and all sides should realize there's nothing left to be gained from continuing this process," said Apps, while adding that Manulife had spent millions of dollars since its legal dispute with the former local partner started in 2000.

Manulife's legal dispute with DSS, owned by the Gondokusumo family, began when it acquired DSS's 40 percent stake in AJMI at a government auction after DSS was declared bankrupt.