Ranking Asia's richest of the rich

Asia's Wealth Club, Who's Really Who in Business - The Top 100 Billionares in Asia

By Geoff Hiscock

Nicholas Brealey Publishing, London & California/Allen & Unwin,

Sydney, 1997

Hardback 312 pp

AU$35

MELBOURNE (JP): Frustration apparently drove Geoff Hiscock to write Asia's Wealth Club, Who's Really Who in Business - The Top 100 Billionaires in Asia.

As editor of Business Asia, published by national newspaper The Australian, Hiscock found the lack of a reliable reference on Asian business to be a nuisance. He was lucky to be able to draw on the data collected during his 30-year media career.

The end product is not only a very useful aid for writers of business pages and players in the business field, but also a good read for those who like to indulge in pecuniary voyeurism. As indicated by its title, the book is full of stories of money and power, sans sex (the latter is left to the reader's imagination).

The book, written four years ago does not quite bring the billionaires down from their lofty positions of quasi-demagogues to the reader's level, but projects their lives, at least the paths that led them to wealth and power, for the reader to see, ponder and, if there is enough time left, to emulate.

For quick reference there are lists, starting with that of the 100 billionaires in order of the volume of wealth (the Sultan of Brunei tops it with US$30 billion and Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong's chief executive designate, brings up the rear with $1 billion); migration patterns of the billionaires; and others showing the number of billionaires by country, as well as the breakdown of billionaires by nation.

What is most striking is the number of overseas Chinese (57 out of 100) in this wealth club. Twenty-three of these originate in Fujian province, following a broad pattern of father leaves mainland China, starts from scratch, builds wealth by extreme hard work and frugal living, assesses available opportunities accurately, links up to a power network, and the path widens and keeps widening. The children are educated in a Western country, with some coming back to take over the business.

Hiscock acknowledges the dominance of Fujian among the wealthy by devoting one chapter (The Fujian Connection) to those from this eastern Chinese province. Prominent among these are our own Liem Sioe Liong, alias Sudono Salim, and family and Malaysia's Robert Kuok and family. The similarities between the two families do not stop at their Fujian origins as they both started in food and related commodities. Kuok built his business foundation on sugar, rice, flour, palm oil, timber and other commodities for half a century, before diversifying into residential and commercial property, hotels, media investments, retailing, shipping, building materials, financial services, even cigars.

Liem, arriving in Central Java in 1938, found work at an uncle's peanut oil shop in Kudus. When he had stashed away enough savings he embarked on his own business selling coffee powder. In the 1960s he founded two companies, PT Bogasari Flour Mill, which grew to be the world's largest wheat-buying company, and PT Mega, importing cloves, before diversifying into cement, property and financial institutions.

Hiscock illustrates again and again how crucial is the gift of being able to spot market prospects accurately, as well as identify potential networks. In the chapter Filipino Money-Go- Round, the story of Manuel Villar is an important case study. While old money families and an older generation of Filipino- Chinese tycoons have dominated the big land developments in Metro Manila, Villar, a congressman from the area, targets low to middle income families. These families, often with savings swelled by remittances from offshore workers, have their sights set on a house to call their own. This is the market astutely identified by Villar.

Being able to link up to power networks is another prerequisite, illustrated in the chapters The Fujian Connection; Hong Kong's Land Barons; Star Wars - the Thirst for Water and Information; Malaysia's Power Plays; and India's New Money, Old Tensions.

Hiscock also devotes one chapter to the next generation, pointing to the youthful 20 somethings, listed as "knocking on the door", whom he calls "billion dollar babies". Is the Chinese saying "Wealth does not last three generations" no longer applicable in this era?

Let me find the ground and gently place my feet there. After reading about these billionaires, the exercise of matching my expense accounts with my pay checks became more of a drudgery than ever before.

-- Dewi Anggraeni