Soeharto business empire intact: Australian academic

Soeharto business empire intact: Australian academic

SYDNEY (DPA): Indonesia's worst recession since independence has taken a relatively minor toll on businesses controlled by former president Soeharto and his children, an Australian business consultant and author said Thursday.

Former diplomat Michael Backman also said that the assets of the former First Family were safe because seizing them would have a negative effect on the confidence of foreign investors.

Speaking in a radio interview on the publication of his book "Asian Eclipse: Exposing the Dark Side of Business in Asia", Backman said the enquiries ordered by President B.J. Habibie had come to nothing because most First Family businesses were joint ventures with major foreign companies.

"Seizing the assets of the Soehartos would also have meant seizing the assets of foreign investors," Backman wrote in the book.

He also warned that Soeharto was not unusual in using public office to amass private wealth and that corruption is ingrained in Indonesia.

"Using one's public position to provide private benefits to oneself and one's immediate family is a fundamental part of what Indonesia is today," Backman wrote.

Backman identified 1,251 First Family businesses that had links with 66 multinational corporations. First Family businesses were also notable for their low level of U.S-dollar denominated debt.

He predicts that the Soeharto business empire will survive the current downturn and emerge in better shape than some of the ethnic-Chinese owned conglomerates that came to dominate the economy the former general's 32-year rule.