Photo: Sukanto met with Chinese Official Zhu Xiaodan in November 2014 (source: gocea.net)
Someone showed me this article about Sukanto Tanoto from Wen Ding (問鼎) and asked me about what I think.
My first reaction after reading the article: Liars are going to lie, lie and lie again.
In the article, Sukanto continued to make ridiculous feel-good stories about his business.
I never understood his success stories in his own biography and the other interviews because they all sounded very fizzy and did not make any sense. He was not able to talk about how he built the paper mill, Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper without any engineering knowledge.
Sukanto was so shameful to admit that his success was built upon his younger brother/ business partner, Polar Yanto Tanoto, who Sukanto has abused his family and stolen his assets from them after Polar passed away in a tragic air crash. Sukanto also left behind the cars/ jewelries and free trips in Europe he gifted to the Indonesian officials and their families in exchange for the licenses to cut the precious peatlands that are supposed to be protected in Indonesia.
Sukanto claimed that his business was able to survive through the 1997 financial crisis because he can see opportunity in crisis. However, that is not true. The only reason his companies can survive though time is because he hided the companies’ and his assets in offshore Trusts and ignored the creditors’ requests. He held no responsibility of his companies and made sure that all banks and creditors understood that he is a man without integrity and can risk his reputation for money.
He blinded the eyes of Indonesians in the early days when information were not freely spread. Gaining his fortune by taking away Indonesians’ lives, properties and environments. Today, Indonesians recognize him as a financial criminal and the biggest deforestator from the Old Suharto era. He’s now ready to move on to China where he sees an opportunity in their legal system and the lack of freedom of speech that allow him to continue his business practices.
My uncle, Sukanto always thought that he is the smartest person and can fool the public with his unsophisticated lies.
What goes around comes around. I heard that Sukanto’s companies have a hard time getting funding. By reviewing what Sukanto has done to the creditors and shareholders of APRIL and PT Toba Pulp Lester (the former PT Indorayon Utama), it is not hard to understand why.
