Nia Ramadhani: What's In A Name?

If you are a woman, do you need to take on your husband's name or change your name in order to be a "good" wife?

I know that this is not my usual blogging fare. But, it is an interesting question.

On a personal level I have not asked, nor insisted, that my wife take on my family name. Ultimately, that is a decision for her, and I will support whatever decision she makes on that front.

On a celebrity gossip front, it was interesting to read that Priyanti Nur Ramadhani, or Nia Ramadhani as she was once known to her fans, has gone to the legal trouble of changing her name to Ramadhania Ardiansyah Bakrie.

So, what's in a name?

The Bakrie Award...

The Bakrie Award is designed to recognise Indonesians who have made significant contributions to the greater Indonesian community.

However, it would seem that not all award recipients are thankful and grateful for the "honour" bestowed upon them. The award has already been rejected by two past winners: Franz Magnis Suseno and Goenawan Mohammed. Suseno rejected the award before even going to a ceremony to get it. Goenawan handed his back.

However, in conjunction with the big announcement that Bakrie Center Foundation was funding, and generously so, the creation of a Chair for Southeast Asian Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, there was also an announcement of this years winners. The 2010 winners included Sitor Situmorang and Daoed Joesoef. Unfortunately, for the Bakrie Center Foundation both these winners said they were not interested in the award and did not want it, in fact both stated that the Bakrie's could keep their awards. The award comes with IDR 100 million attached.

The various reasonings for the rejection noted that the spirit of the award was not reflected in the conduct of the Bakrie's themselves with respect to the Sidoarjo mud extrusion. The original news is in Indonesian and can be found here.

Maybe it is about time that the Bakrie family reached the point where they just said, "bugger it!" And, then paid out the claims and had some publicity that could be spun positively. The fact is most people believe that it is a Bakrie company that is responsible for the extrusion and not an earthquake. There is a limited number of ways you can spin bad publicity before it just becomes a stone in your shoe and a sizable irritant going forward. Time to shoulder-up, take of the shoe, shake out the stone, pay the people of Sidoarjo what they are owed, and then get on with whatever it is that the Bakrie's do.

The Bakrie Chair for Southeast Asian Studies...

This is a real interesting piece of news for me. It is interesting because it is one of those head shakers. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has announced that it has accepted Bakrie money through the Bakrie Center Foundation to create a Chair of Southeast Asian Studies in Washington DC. The Chair is for a yet to be recruited Senior Associate. Applications are open at the moment if anyone is interested in being part of this. Check out the Carnegie Endowment website.

Seeing this is my blog, and my blog is about opinion, then I am going to offer one. Throwing money at the establishment of a new chair at the Carnegie Endowment does not absolve one of the sins of the past. The reality that the Bakrie family and the Bakrie family companies, and by default the Bakrie Center face is that the good people of Sidoarjo are still yet to be properly compensated for their losses and the harm that they have suffered as a result of the mud extrusion caused by unsafe and illegal drilling practices of a Bakrie family company.

I have no problem with the creation of the chair. It is a positive move that will allow for dedicated research to be done. But, as I said, this does not make right the wrongs done to others.

According to Anindya Novyan Bakrie, head of the Bakrie Foundation and CEO of Bakrie Telecom:


“Working out of the world-class Carnegie Endowment, the Bakrie chair will contribute policy relevant research by revealing key political, economic, and socio-cultural trends in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The senior associate will address the unanswered questions of the region and become a reference point for policy makers in the United States and the international community.”

You can read all of the speech at the Carnegie Endowment site.


NOTES (these are the notes attached to the press release)


The Bakrie Center Foundation (BCF) is led directly by Anindya Novyan Bakrie and the third generation of the Bakrie family. Its primary objective is to provide Indonesia’s best and brightest with a chance to study for a higher education at some of the best universities at home and abroad. It is a private sector initiative to identify and develop leaders in Indonesia, creating a talent pool that will eventually drive economic development and growth. 


The BCF is an integral part of the established Yayasan Bakrie Untuk Negri (BUN) in philosophy and values. Initiatives complement and expand the work of BUN which has pioneered several philanthropic and educational efforts in Indonesia, including the establishment of Bakrie University, a full-fledged undergraduate institution. All its efforts go back to the deep-rooted conviction of its founding father and enduring mission of the Bakrie Group: to give back to society and build a more prosperous Indonesia.


The Carnegie Asia Program in Beijing and Washington provides clear and precise analysis to policy makers on the complex economic, security, and political developments in the Asia-Pacific region.

SBY Is Saddened By Sex Tape...

Oh dear, Mr. President!

Of all the things that you could be saddened by, this is the least important of the whole lot. There are just so many important issues that you have failed to address and continue to fail to address. You are, after all, the President. You do actually have some powers that you can call on to get things done. And, even if you and your advisers question your authority to act, then please do not forget that you were in fact elected with a considerably large political and democratic mandate by the people, to act!

Mr. President, as a simple request, can you be saddened by the plights of poor Indonesia families struggling to make ends meet on a daily basis who are forced to convert from kerosene to 3kg gas cylinders for those gas cylinders to blow up in their faces and scar them for life?

Mr. President, can you be saddened by the rampant, systematic, and endemic corruption that plagues the nation making the lives of all Indonesians much more difficult than they ever need to be? While you are on this corruption thing, can you be saddened about the continual harassing of the KPK? After all, they are only doing the work that you claim is so important and such an integral part of the legacy you want to leave as a corruption fighter.

Mr. President, can you be saddened by the fact that after all this time the good people of Sidoarjo and the surrounding villages have not been properly compensated for the human errors of the Bakrie families exploration companies? Can you be saddened by the fact that despite being ordered to pay compensation these companies are still dragging their feet and taking every possible measure to delay and avoid making restitution?

Mr. President, the list goes on, but I think you get the point, right? You do get the point, don't you Mr. President?

Mr. President, I find it hard to reconcile the idea that a man of your stature and belief is content to let his legacy be the laughing stock of his predecessors and all subsequent successors. Is that what you want?

Actions speak so much louder than words, and inaction speaks volumes.

The future is now Mr. President!

The Bakrie Bailout

The title of this post is perhaps misleading, then again for those in the know perhaps not so misleading. I do not claim to be in the know but I do not mind engaging in a bit of wild speculation. Bad of me I know.

The mainstream media is now reporting that The Minister of State Owned Enterprises, Sofyan Djalil (pictured), is supporting the idea of State Owned Enterprises buying into the Bakrie Group, specifically PT Bumi Resources and PT Bayan Resources. The shares are certainly not at rock bottom prices. The reality is that a number of Bakrie companies are in trouble either with debts due or debts falling due between now and April 2009.

The fact a Bakrie company defaulted on a loan led to some wild speculation that saw other Bakrie companies hit in a rapid sell-off of Bakrie stock. It is reported that the Bakrie Group accounts for somewhere between 8% - 10% of the Indonesian Stock Exchange. So, any dramatic fall in the Bakrie Group fortunes is going to have a significant impact on the market. And, so it did last week when Bakrie companies lost some 41% of their value in a matter of days.

According to Djalil, both Bumi Resources and Bayan Resources have pretty solid future prospects. Maybe this is true, however if the State Owned Enterprises are going to snap-up Bakrie shares then they are also going to be taking on some debt.

Interestingly, the word is that the Bakrie Group has approached the Stock Exchange with the idea of suspending further trade in its shares until they get on top of this mess and make some decisions. Indonesian law would allow the Stock Exchange the discretionary power to permit a suspension. Yet, if it did then there might be some serious questions on the fairness of the suspension when there are other Indonesian companies in equally perilous financial positions. My guess is that the Stock Exchange will entertain the approach but will make it known that they will not allow the suspension to happen. I would also guess that the Bakrie Group will then deny ever having contemplated such an idea. Simply, to grant such a request would be sure to be interpreted as providing a get out of jail free pass (well, at least at a much reduced cost).

The idea of selling the shares to SOEs is probably a more attractive option to the Bakrie Group than selling them off to a competitor. The belief being that if in the future the Group was to raise the capital elsewhere to pull them out of their credit hole then they would be able to re-acquire the shares back from the SOE. This might sound good in theory however it sounds a little more complex in reality. This is notwithstanding the "court of public opinion" that is likely to frown on any inkling of favourable treatment to the countries richest man (if he still is after last week's mauling is unclear).

I would expect that any transaction that sees a SOE buying into the companies of the family of the Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare should come in for some additional and special scrutiny to ensure that any accusations of favouritism can be quickly snuffed out.

Share Buy-Backs -- Indonesia

The globe is in the midst of interesting and tough financial times. The financial crisis might have begun with the unfolding of some of the world’s biggest financial institutions based in the US but the impacts of this meltdown will undoubtedly be felt around the world.

The International Monetary Fund has already declared some economies to be in recession and other economies as being under threat of recession. It is nice to note that the IMF has declared Australia to be at a very low risk of recession. However, it is probably worth noting that the Australian Stock Exchange has taken a beating over the last week or so. It is bloody and bruised although seeming it had a good day today.

These might be interesting times but they are also dangerous times in the financial sense.

The Indonesian Government has been seeking to convince Indonesians and investors in Indonesia that the fundamentals of the Indonesian economy are sound and that the impacts of the global financial crises are likely to be minimal. Nevertheless, the government has sort to minimize any negative impacts even further by facilitating the ease in which issuers can buy back shares without falling into breach of provisions relating to market manipulation and insider trading, among others.

This suggests that perhaps the fundamentals of the economy are not as sound as the government is saying. Yet, there are plenty of excellent minds in the Department of Finance that are more than capable of handling this crisis. It might call for some tough action but the powers that be are capable of that too, if they want to be.

The provisions concerning the buy-back of shares of issuers and public companies are contained in Bapepam-LK Rule No. XI.B.3 and is attached to Head of Bapepam-LK Regulation No. KEP-401/BL/2008. The Regulation was issued on 9 October 2008 and came into immediate force.

It is interesting that some of the news is not just about the ability to buy-back shares that one has issued but that the government is also suggesting that some State Owned Enterprises might also be utilizing some of the IDR 4 trillion fund made available to them to buy into some troubled concerns, such as Bumi Resources.

Bumi Resources is owned by the Coordinating Minister of Social Welfare's family. It is a Bakrie entity at the moment. It should not be for long as it seems destined to default of loans when they fall due in April of 2009. If SOEs were to buy into these Bakrie companies then there will undoubtedly be some difficult PR times ahead as the government seeks to avert claims of favoritism and the stench of what many would see as being as bad as corruption even where no laws were actually broken.

The idea that this crisis is going to get messier before it gets better seems to be a real possibility.

Back to the Bapepam-LK Rule. There are 16 points contained in the Rule. In essence, the issuers and public companies that are inclined to do so can buy back their shares without breaching the provisions of Article 91, 92, 95, and 96 of the Capital Market Law (Law No. 8 of 1995) whilst this Rule remains in force.

The key feature of the Rule is that the issuer or public company can conduct a buy-back of its shares without having to undertake a General Meeting of Shareholders (GMS) to gain shareholder approval for the buy-back.

However, the buy-back is limited to 20% of the paid-up capital of the issuer or public company. Any buy-back will require the issuer or public company to notify both Bapepam-LK and the Stock Exchange of their plans and then the buy-back must be completed within three months of that notification.

A buy-back of shares can then become part of an Employee Stock Option Plan or an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. However, this must be done with the approval of the GMS and in accordance with Bapepam-LK Rule No. IX.E.1 as it relates to conflict of interest transactions.

Any share buy-back can be sold outside of the exchange at a fair market price. Nevertheless, that fair market price cannot be less than the price paid in the buy-back of those shares.

It is expected that this Regulation and Rule will allow for greater stability in the market.

Indonesia's Rich List

With pending recessions throughout the world and economic hardships facing many people, it is with that in mind that I make this post. The most recent edition of Globe Asia, June 2008, is a Special Edition focusing on Indonesia's 150 richest people.

The net wealth of the 150 richest has risen from USD 46.6 billion to USD 69.3 billion with an average wealth rising from USD 311 million to USD 488 million and the average age of the list has risen from 43 to 44.

The most obscene, yes obscene, mover on the list is the now Coordinating Minister of Peoples' Welfare, one Aburizal Bakrie, who has seen his family's wealth jump from a meagre USD 1.05 billion to a much more staggering figure of USD 9.2 billion. Much of this is the result of growth in the energy sector and the demand for commodities. Yet, it is worth noting that he also has extensive interests in property and telecommunications. Why is this obscene? He is the Coordinating Minister of Peoples' Welfare and his welfare is so much better than everyone else's. I do not begrudge rewards for people who work hard and I am sure that he makes his contributions to charity and the like.

Nevertheless, to see such a huge jump in wealth while the people of Sidoarjo continue to be shuffled about from one place to another and never being paid the compensation that they are due for the catastrophe that is the mud flow, seems to me to be just plain wrong. By most accounts one of the Bakrie family companies is responsible and the Presidential Regulation seems to suggest that the Bakrie family company is to blame and has apportioned blame to them (whether a Presidential Regulation can do this is a different argument for a different post). Yet, it seems that the Bakrie's are having trouble meeting the compensation payment schedules as mandated under the Regulation.

I have to say this is obscene because the man and his family are making their wealth predominantly exploiting Indonesian resources, natural and human, yet despite assurances to the contrary, do not seem to be able to make reparations to those that have suffered in the Bakrie Family's pursuit for cash!

The other notable entry for my mind on this list is Hutomo Mandala Putra, or Tommy Soeharto, at No. 61 with a net worth of USD 253 million. This is not bad for a fella who is allegedly corrupt, who is a convicted felon as a result of his ordering the assassination of a Supreme Court judge hearing one of his cases, and failed rally driver (don't know why the last one is important in terms of wealth but what the hey). If there is anything positive to say about the Soeharto children it is that the rich list clearly highlights they are no longer holders of influence and riches like they once were. However, maybe all the wealth is still stashed away overseas in secret bank accounts -- my guess is that the family will always be comfortably filthy rich!

There will be more to follow on this rich list and what it means as I see it (not that any of you care how I see it -- it's my blog so I can do what I want, right?)