Small businessmen to sue tycoons for breach of promise

Small businessmen to sue tycoons for breach of promise

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Almost 200 local small-scale entrepreneurs
are planning to sue the Jimbaran Group of business tycoons for
breach of promise. They are demanding compensation of Rp 100
billion (US$10.5 million).

Organized by the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute, the
entrepreneurs accused the major businesses of failing to keep
their promise on June 17, 1997, to provide them with capital.

Muhammad Iqbal, one of the lawyers representing the 195
entrepreneurs, said they would first send warnings. If by the
third warning the tycoons had still failed to respond, the
lawsuit would be filed, he said.

The first warning letter is to be sent on Monday.

"This is just to remind the tycoons of their stated commitment
to help the small businesses," Iqbal said.

The Jimbaran Group signed on June 17, 1997, a memorandum of
understanding before Yogyakarta Governor Paku Alam VIII pledging
to provide small entrepreneurs with capital. The memorandum said
that to qualify for the money the small traders needed only to
produce their identity cards, which accounted for the large
number of people applying for the assistance.

It was reported at the time that Bank Danamon would organize a
fund of Rp 3.7 billion (US$388,000 at the current rate) while
Bank Central Asia would contribute Rp 126 million.

"Not one of the small entrepreneur has received any of the
promised assistance," Iqbal said, adding that if they succeeded
with the lawsuit, Rp 50 billion of the compensation would be
distributed to the plaintiffs while the rest would be donated to
the government's effort to overcome the current economic crisis.

The other lawyers involved in the planned lawsuit were Edi
Saputra Sofyan, Kamaludin Hasibuan, and H. Khaerudin.

The Jimbaran Group was set up in August 1995 in Jimbaran,
Bali, after a two-day meeting of 100 leading Indonesian business
figures. At the time, they vowed to narrow the economic gap
separating them from their smaller counterparts.

During the course of its existence, the group's "partnership"
has included offers of support in the fields of human resources,
capital, market access and information. (23)