This Indonesian President is Impressed by a Local Entrepreneur, His Project Labelled "Mad"
In the late 1980s, President Soeharto undertook a working visit across regions from Jambi to Batam by helicopter. While passing over North Sumatra, his attention was drawn to the vast expanse of coconut plantations in Indragiri Hilir Regency.
From the air, the President observed a large factory standing amidst thousands of coconut trees and a river. The neatly arranged industrial landscape piqued Soeharto’s curiosity about the figure behind the management of such promising assets.
Upon returning to the palace, he instructed his trusted aide, General Kardono, to investigate the owner of the business. The investigation revealed that the entire plantation and factory area belonged to the Sambu Group, founded by an entrepreneur named Tay Juhana or Tay Jui Chuan.
Soeharto was unfamiliar with the name, as it was not well-known in the capital. His curiosity led him to probe further. In Tay Ciaying’s account in Tay Juhana: Pioneer of the Coconut Industry (2018), Soeharto ordered Kardono (Chairman of PSSI) to check, and Hasrul Harahap, then Minister of Forestry, to conduct an inspection.
The visit served as a benchmarking effort to observe Tay’s success in transforming unproductive wet swamps into productive land. At the time, he was already marketing branded coconut oil ‘Dua Sapi’, which had become the ‘king’ in Sumatra.
After visiting in person, his ministers reported back to the president. They described a Sumatran entrepreneur capable of performing magic on the land. The report was accompanied by the submission of a project proposal from PT Riau Sakti United Plantations, a subsidiary of Sambu Group. The project aimed to convert swamps into large-scale productive land.
After reviewing the proposal’s contents, Soeharto promptly took up his pen.
“Soeharto marked ‘G’ on the cover, interpreted as ‘Gila’,” wrote Tay Ciaying.
Soeharto’s reaction stemmed from his amazement that it was an implausible project. Only a ‘mad’ and daring person would undertake it, yielding tangible results.
Seeing Soeharto’s comment, Tay regarded it as praise. He proceeded with the project, which proved successful. His coconut plantations expanded further, and he achieved business growth.
In 1989, he made a major breakthrough by creating the world’s first new product: packaged coconut milk branded Kara. With no competitors in packaged coconut milk, Tay succeeded as a coconut processing entrepreneur whose products reached global markets.
After a challenging journey, the product succeeded in appearing on shelves in shops across Indonesia and over 100 countries worldwide, particularly in Asia. It became synonymous with packaged coconut milk. Tay’s name rose to prominence nationwide. This was especially true after his factory pioneered Nata de Coco, a coconut flesh product.
Soeharto sought to approach Tay. Shortly after his first visit to Tay’s factory in 1990, Soeharto invited him to participate in the One Million Hectare Peatland Project in Kalimantan.
Today, Tay is remembered as an entrepreneur dedicated to Indonesia’s coconut industry, serving as an inspiration for the younger generation to create value from nothing.