Tommy denies taking advantages as president's son

Tommy denies taking advantages as president's son

JAKARTA (JP): Businessman Hutomo Mandala Putra denies that
being the son of President Soeharto gives him the advantage of
winning major projects in Indonesia.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Fortune magazine,
Soeharto's youngest son, known as Tommy, acknowledged that it was
not unusual for him to receive special treatment from government
officials.

"I have the advantage, especially when I want to meet with
government officials. They take my phone calls. They know who I
am," he said.

"But that doesn't mean that they have to give me first
priority to win projects. If I cannot prove that my proposal is
better than the others, they will appoint the best for the
country," he said.

Tommy, 35, currently runs the vast and growing Humpuss Group,
which has operations in carmaking, construction and clove-
marketing businesses, among others.

Last year, he was granted the sole right to produce a so-
called national car, which received import duty and luxury tax
breaks, on the understanding the car's local components totaled
20 percent by the end of the first year, 40 percent by the end of
the second and 60 percent by the end of the third.

But since PT Timor Putra Nasional -- Tommy's company that is
currently developing the car -- did not have a manufacturing
plant, the government allowed it to import completely-built-up
Timor cars for one year, starting last October.

The imports were made from Kia Motors Corp. of South Korea,
Timor Putra's foreign partner in the project.

The government had allowed Timor Putra to import 45,000 cars
from Kia Motors' manufacturing plant.

Recent reports stated that due to low sales, Timor Nasional
was planning to export more than 20,000 of its cars to Europe,
the Middle East, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Timor Putra would hold a stock of about 5,000 cars.

On the national car project, Tommy told Fortune: "It's not
really in trouble. Every car company has to have its own stock.
Our stock is near the airport, so everybody can see it ... A full
manufacturing plan takes time, two to three years. So, we have to
build the Timor car first in Korea and, at the same time, teach
our people in Korea how to make good cars".

"In about one year, all those stories -- that they think the
car is junk, that the body is made from cane, that the tires go
flat easily -- will disappear," he said.

Shortly after the government granted Tommy the sole right to
develop the Timor car, his older brother, Bambang Trihatmodjo,
announced that he would also like to develop a car under the
national car program.

Although the government had stated that no one else would get
the license to develop a national car, this did not stop Bambang
from launching the Bimantara Cakra and Bimantara Nenggala cars,
which he developed in conjunction with South Korea's Hyundai
Corp.

On such rivalry, Tommy said: "It's friendly and it's open.
Whichever is the best for the country, then they're the ones who
win the business. It's not that the oldest has to win from the
younger or the other way around." (pwn)