RICH IN INDONESIA: WEALTH, LIFESTYLE AND TIES TO SUHARTO AND CURRENT LEADERS

RICHEST PEOPLE AND FAMILIES IN INDONESIA

RANK — NAME — NET WORTH — INDUSTRY
1) R. Budi & Michael Hartono — $43.8 Billion — Diversified
2) Prajogo Pangestu — $39.8 Billion — Diversified
3) Widjaja family — $28.3 Billion — Diversified
4) Low Tuck Kwong — $24.9 Billion — Energy
5) Anthoni Salim & family — $13.6 Billion — Diversified
6) Otto Toto Sugiri — $11.3 Billion — Technology
7) Tahir & family — $9.8 Billion — Diversified
8) Marina Budiman — $8.2 Billion — Technology
9) Wijono & Hermanto Tanoko & family — $8.1 Billion — Diversified
10) Sri Prakash Lohia — $8 Billion — Manufacturing
[Source: Jane Ho and Phisanu Phromchanya, Forbes, December 2025]

11) Haryanto Tjiptodihardjo — $6.2 Billion — Manufacturing
12) Han Arming Hanafia — $5.3 Billion — Technology
13) Agoes Projosasmito — $5 Billion — Metals & Mining
14) Lim Hariyanto Wijaya Sarwono — $4.9 Billion — Metals & Mining
15) Theodore Rachmat — $4.45 Billion — Diversified
16) Chairul Tanjung — $4.4 Billion — Diversified
17) Dewi Kam — $4.3 Billion — Energy
18) Bachtiar Karim & family — $4.2 Billion — Manufacturing
19) Garibaldi Thohir & family — $3.8 Billion — Energy
20) Mochtar Riady & family — $3.75 Billion — Diversified

According to Forbes: In 2025, Indonesia’s benchmark stock index shot up 17%, helping lift collective wealth to a record $306 billion from $263 billion last year. To attract investors, The country’s financial regulator plans to raise in stages the minimum free-float requirement for listed companies to 25% from 7.5%.

Lifestyle of the Rich in Indonesia

Time Door

As of 2025, there were 48 billionaires in Indonesia. In the 2000s, Singapore, India and Indonesia had greatest growth in the number of millionaires, followed by Russia, South Korea and United Arab Emirates. The countries with the most billionaires in 1996 were: 1) the United States (129); 2) Germany (53); 3) Japan (37); 4) Hong Kong (14); 5) Thailand (12); 6) France (11) and 7) Mexico and Indonesia (10 each).

A defining feature of elite housing in Indonesia is the preference for large landed properties rather than apartments. Wealthy families typically seek spacious homes within secure, gated compounds that provide privacy and controlled access in the Jakarta area. Security is a major priority, and many of these neighborhoods have restricted entry points and private guards. As far as expensive cars are concerned it is good to have one that is comfortable to sit in — and has entertainment options — for getting stuck in traffics jams. A helicopter is nice to have.

Jakarta has its share of expensive boutiques and luxury malls. The most prominent malls are Plaza Indonesia and Grand Indonesia, located side by side in the city center and featuring top global brands such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Prada. Other key high-end shopping destinations include Senayan City and Pacific Place, which offer similarly upscale environments along with luxury boutiques, fine dining, and exclusive events like fashion shows and product launches.

According to the The New Yorker: Though Nero’s is the world’s most valuable bathtub, its market value has yet to be proven. Until then the title of most expensive belongs to the Le Grand Queen bathtub, a bathtub designed by Simon Krapf and carved out of Caijou gemstone was sold at auction in 2016 for $1.74 million. It took four years and 120,000 work hours to locate, excavate, and polish the materials into a unique two-person bathtub. Caijou is, technically speaking, 180-million-year-old petrified wood found un Indonesia. It is prized by some for its alleged healing and life-extension properties. Perhaps the anonymous buyer wrote it off as a medical expense. [Source: Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, March 29, 2021]

Where Rich People Live in Indonesia

Wealthy Indonesians tend to live in exclusive, gated neighborhoods, particularly in Jakarta. Among the most prestigious areas are Menteng, Pondok Indah, and Kebayoran Baru, as well as upscale coastal developments in North Jakarta such as Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK). Outside the capital, many of the ultra-wealthy also maintain luxury villas in Uluwatu, sometimes referred to as a “Billionaires Row” due to its concentration of high-end properties. [Source: Google AI]

Inside the Grand Mansion Menteng

Each of these districts has distinct characteristics. Menteng, in Central Jakarta, has long been associated with political elites and old-money families, featuring spacious colonial-era houses. Pondok Indah, often compared to Beverly Hills, is popular among business leaders and celebrities. Pantai Indah Kapuk represents a newer style of elite living, with modern waterfront developments, luxury amenities, and large-scale expansions such as PIK 2. Kebayoran Baru is another established upscale district, known for its large homes and appeal to senior officials.

Other affluent neighborhoods include Kuningan, which attracts diplomats and high-ranking officials, as well as Kemang and Cipete, both popular with expatriates and upper-middle-class residents. Land values in these areas are extremely high. In prime districts such as Menteng, prices can exceed about $5,000 per square meter (converted from roughly 80 million Indonesian rupiah), reflecting both scarcity and the prestige associated with these locations.

Wealthy Indonesians and Indonesia’s Political Elite

In January 2024, a group of influential Indonesian oligarchs gathered at a café in Jakarta to show support for Prabowo Subianto, the former general who was elected President of Indonesia a few weeks later. “We are small in number, yes,” coal billionaire Garibaldi Thohir told the room in a widely circulated video of the event. “But in this room maybe one third of Indonesia’s economy is here.” His remarks underscored the concentration of economic power among a small elite. The gathering also reflected a shift from the previous election, when his brother, Erick Thohir, led the campaign of President Joko Widodo—widely known as Jokowi—to defeat Prabowo for a second time. [Source: Philip J. Heijmans, Bloomberg, February 10, 2024]

During the meeting, Bloomberg reported, Prabowo—once the son-in-law of former ruler Suharto—reportedly joined in singing songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival and expressed appreciation for the support. Reflecting on his earlier defeats, he remarked, “I get it now why I lost the presidential election twice… Back then, I was not invited here.”

When President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”) took office in 2014, some expected him—given his modest background—to dismantle entrenched elite power structures. However, by his second term, those expectations had faded. Jokowi instead incorporated prominent business figures and former rivals into his administration, including Prabowo Subianto as defense minister. With strong elite backing and broad parliamentary support, he was able to pass major economic reforms aimed at positioning Indonesia as one of the world’s largest economies by 2045.

Prabowo meeting with Indonesia tycoons IDN Financials

At the same time, Indonesia’s wealthiest individuals accumulated increasing fortunes. Forbes reported that the combined wealth of the country’s 50 richest people rose by about 40 percent in a single year to reach $252 billion, while projections from Knight Frank suggest that the number of individuals worth at least $30 million will more than double within a decade. Observers argue that Jokowi has skillfully aligned elite interests with his policy agenda to maintain political stability and advance development goals.

A significant number of Indonesia’s 575 lawmakers have ties to the mining industry, according to the Indonesia Mining Advocacy Network, highlighting the close overlap between political power and business interests. Analysts note that the country is effectively shaped by an oligarchic system in which political and economic elites share aligned interests. As Global Counsel analyst Dedi Dinarto observed, this overlap can create conflicts of interest, particularly when business figures have prior knowledge of government policies that may benefit them.

The persistence of elite influence is rooted in several structural factors. After the fall of Suharto in 1998, Indonesia did not immediately adopt direct presidential elections; instead, leaders were initially chosen by lawmakers, reinforcing elite control. Additionally, the high cost of campaigning continues to limit access for new political entrants.

A key institutional barrier is the constitutional requirement that presidential candidates must secure the backing of at least 20 percent of parliament or demonstrate substantial prior electoral support. Critics argue that this rule restricts competition and favors established political networks. As constitutional expert Herdiansyah Hamzah remarked, the system tends to recycle the same figures and parties, limiting broader public representation in national leadership.

Mohammed "Bob" Hasan — the Premier Suharto Crony

President Suharto ruled Indonesia for 31 years from 1967 to 1998. Most the wealthiest people in Indonesia at that time were Chinese tycoons with connections to Suharto. The relationship between Suharto and rich was similar to that of Ferdinand Marcos and his rich cronies in the Philippines. Chinese tycoons have benefitted from sweetheart deals with Suharto, subsidies and easy credit from state banks By the 1990s, of Indonesians's 25 largest business, only are a couple were not run by Chinese tycoons. They were run Suharto's children.

Mohammed "Bob" Hasan was Suharto close friend. He controlled much of Indonesia's timber industry and was called the plywood king. He was one of Indonesia's richest people in the Suharto era. In the 1950s, Hasan was adopted by a powerful general and war hero who introduced him to Suharto, then a colonel in Yogyakarta. Hasan and Suharto remained tight over the years. As Suharto's power grew so did Hasan’s wealth. Hasan was Suharto's golfing buddy. Once be played golf with Sylvester Stallone and boasted later, he "told Rambo, 'I am king of the jungle.'"

In 1972, Hasan was given a 10 percent stake in the United States-based forestry giant Georgia-Pacific. Hasan used this as his beachhead into the timber industry. It wasn't long until he had a 90 percent share of the company and a near monopoly on the Indonesian timber trade. Most of the profits made from cutting down Indonesia's tropical rain forests ended up in Hasan's pockets.

Hansan was head of the Nusmaba Group, which controlled huge timber concessions and also controlled Astra, Indonesia's largest automobile maker. He also had large interest in banking, mining and transport. Hasan laso had interests in many of the enterprises of Suharto's children and they had stakes in his businesses. Hasan was reportedly was the only person who could intervene and settle disputes between the Suharto’s children. Nusamba Group, the investment vehicle for three of Suharto's charitable foundations, was referred to as Suharto's "retirement fund". It reportedly had assets of $5 billion.

Other rich Indonesians from the Suharto include William Soeryadjaya, founder of the Astra-Summa group, a large auto and agri-business empire. He was unable to control his free-spending eldest son who caused the groups bank to collapse in 1992. Adrian Zecha, a former journalist, established a chain of $500-a-night resort hotels in Thailand, Bali and the Philippines. Guests at his resorts have include numerous Hollywood movies stars, Japanese industrialist and the princess of Wales and the Duchess of York. Tomy Winata was a businessman with interests in real estate and gambling. He began as a car washer and was one if the nations richest men when he was 46 in 2003.

Leim Sioe Lion — the Richest Man in Indonesia During the Suharto Era

Chinese-Indonesian Leim Sioe Lion was regarded by some as the richest person in Indonesia during much of the Suharto. He was also a close friend of Suharto. Asiaweek once called him the 5th most powerful man in Asia behind Suharto, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed. He placed ahead of Rupert Murdoch, Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and Toyodo Schoichiro, head of Toyota.

Born in the Fujian province of China, Liem emigrated to Indonesia in 1937 almost peniless and made a meager living selling cloves, peanuts and bicycle parts in central Java. His fortune began to change in the 1950s when he befriended Suharto, then a lieutenant colonel in the Indonesian army, and began supplying the military base under Suharto's command. Around this time he adopted the Indonesia name Sudono Salim.

Liem's fortune rose with Suharto's. When Suharto became president, Liem was given a monopoly license on Indonesia's clove industry. Later he received similar licenses in coffee, rubber, sugar, wheat, flour, noodles, rice and cement. One of his most profitable ventures was the Bogasari flour mills, which milled wheat from the U.S. Food for Peace program.

By the the 1960s he owned in a large range of enterprises. By the 1990s, the Liem’s company, the Salim group accounted for 5 percent of Indonesia's economy, a share that in the United States would be equal the Exxon, General Motors, IBM and AT&T combined. According to one joke, in an imaginary conversation. Suharto asks Liem, who owns Indofood, Indombil, Indomilk and Indocment. Liem replies, "I do." Then Suharto asks who owns Indonesia, Liem replies, "Well, that is a joint venture."

Salim Group

At one time, Leim Sioe Lion's Salim Group was the largest business group in Southeast Asia. Comprised of 500 companies divided into 11 different divisions in the 1990s, it had $20 billion in sales and 200,000 employees. The flagship asset of the group was PT Central Asia, Indonesia's largest bank. Its other holdings included cement factories, food processing plants, flour mills, palm oil plantations, office buildings and construction companies and PT Indofood Sukses Makmure, the world’s largest noodle maker.

During the riots that preceded Suharto's resignation the family home of Liem Sioe Liong was burnt down by rioters, who slashed a portrait of Liem Sioe Liong, and spray painted the word "Suharto's dog" on the house's gate. Most members of Liem Sioe Liong's family fled to Singapore or Manila during the crisis.

Salim was saddled with $5 billion in debt during the Asian Financial crisis in 1998 and the value of Salim stock dropped from $10 billion to $1.4 billion during the Meltdown. A run on the Bank Central Asia robbed the family of billions. They had to give up stakes in more than 100 companies to pay ot back.

Anthony Salim, Liem Sioe Liong's baby-faced son, presided over the Salim conglomerate after Suharto was ousted. Born in the central Javanese own of Kudos and educated at a technical college in London, he wears batik shirts to work and sent two of his children to Colorado. Salim slowly fought its way back under Anthony Salim. It moved its headquarters to Manila to avoid government investigations for corruption and was forced to sell of stakes in many of its enterprises. It sold off units like a Philippines telecom company and a property management firm to pay of its debts and focus its more secure consumer goods businesses. In the 2000s, around 35 percent of the Salim Group's revenues came from outside of Indonesia.

Riady Family

Mochtar Riady was another ethnic Chinese tycoon who prospered in the Suharto era.He was born in 1929 in a Chinese immigrant family in East Java. He earned money as a young man by smuggling medicine into Indonesia during the colonial period and started bank. His big break came when he made friends with Soedono Salim, a friend of Suharto, in the 1970s and was asked to run Salim's bank and given a 17 percent share in it. He then made it Indonesia's largest bank. Later he founded a group of banks under the Lippo group.

Riady's son James Riady was involved in a corruption scandal involving U.S. President Bill Clinton. An evangelical Christian, James Riady befriended Bill Clinton while he was governor of Arkansas and later was accused making illegal campaign donations of $1 million to Clinton and the Democratic Party and having meetings with Clinton about Asian trade and human rights.

One Riady aide told the Wall Street Journal, "The Riady's served as a bridge to the Clinton administration at a time when Suharto was worried about what a Democrat in power would mean to him." Riady also had a number of ties with Chinese-government-owned entities, There was some speculation he may have been a spy for Beijing.

Another Indonesian with questionable ties was Ted Sieng. An L.A. businessman, he was born in Indonesia and holds a Belize passport. He donated $250,000 to the Democratic National Committee and had dinner with Clinton and Gore. He also funneled an addition $100,000 through his daughter.

Widjajas

The Widjajas are one of the richest families in Indonesia. The family’s China-born patriarch Eka Tjipta Widjaja was one of Indonesia's richest and most colorful figures in Indonesia. Worth about $2 billion at one time, he liked to flaunt his wealth. He drove around in expensive cars and wore a belt with a buckle with diamonds spelling out his name. At the age of 70 he had fathered 40 children by various women. There is disagreement as to how many wives he has but it is somewhere in the double digits.

Born in a poor family in the Fujian province of China, Widjaja emigrated to the island of Sulawesi at age of seven in 1930. He got his start in the copra business and later established close relation with the Indonesian military by supporting it during the fight against the Dutch in the 1940s. At this time he profited from start selling dried meat and tea to Indonesian soldiers fighting against the Dutch. Widjaja entered the paper and pulp business in the 1970s, hepled by government subsidies and this grew into PT Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper.

Most of his official children — six sons and two girls — are from his first wife. The tycoons most likely successor was thought to be Rudy Maelo, Widjaja's nephew, who helped organize the company's rapid expansion in 1980s. But he died of cancer in 1988.

The Widjajas owned Sinar Mas, once Indonesia’s second largest business conglomerate with holdings in timber, pulp and paper, banking, real estate and food processing. APP (Asian Paper and Pulp) owns Texamaco, Indonesia’s top textile maker; Asia Pulp, the biggest papper maker in Indonesia.

In the 1990s, the running of the company was taken over by Eka Tjipta’s eldest son, Teguh Ganda, He began making multibillion dollar deals that straddled APP with huge debts, By 2002, the company was paying $750 million a year just in interest. In 2001, APP defaulted on $13,4 billion debts, one of the biggest defaults in Asian history.

R. Budi Hartono and Michael Hartono

R. Budi Hartono and Michael Hartono were Indonesian billionaire brothers who built one of the country’s largest business empires. They transformed their father’s small cigarette company, Djarum, into a vast conglomerate and were consistently ranked among the richest individuals in Indonesia. [Source: MarcoPolis, Forbes]

After inheriting Djarum in 1963, the brothers rebuilt the company following a devastating fire and expanded it into one of the world’s leading producers of clove cigarettes. Their greatest financial success, however, came from acquiring a majority stake in Bank Central Asia (BCA) in the aftermath of the 1998 Asian financial crisis. The bank later became Indonesia’s most valuable private lender and the primary source of their immense wealth.

Under the Djarum Group, the Hartonos diversified widely across multiple industries. They developed a strong presence in electronics through Polytron, while also investing heavily in real estate, including major projects such as Grand Indonesia and Hotel Indonesia. Their portfolio further expanded into agribusiness, particularly palm oil, as well as technology ventures, including investments in startups like Kaskus through their venture arm.

Michael Hartono was also known outside business circles as an accomplished bridge player, even winning a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games. He passed away on March 19, 2026, at the age of 86. Leadership of the family business has increasingly involved the next generation, with R. Budi Hartono’s sons, Victor and Martin, taking active roles in operations and technology investments.

Prajogo Pangestu

Prajogo Pangestu (born Phang Djoen Phen on May 13, 1944) is an Indonesian billionaire businessman, investor, and philanthropist, widely recognized as one of Southeast Asia’s wealthiest individuals. Listed as Indonesia’s single richest individual, and second richest overall, by Forbes in 2025, he is the founder of the Barito Pacific Group, a major conglomerate with diversified interests spanning forestry, plantations, oil and gas, mining, and geothermal energy and has an estimated net worth of about $43.41 billion. [Source: Wikipedia]

Pangestu was born in Bengkayang, West Kalimantan, into a Hakka Chinese family with roots in Guangdong, China. He received his early education in Chinese-language schools before moving to Jakarta in 1965. His business career began in 1970 when he joined the Djajanti Group, a timber company owned by Burhan Uray. Rising through the ranks, he became general manager of PT Nusantara in 1976, before leaving the company in 1977 to establish his own business ventures.

His entrepreneurial efforts led to the creation of PT Barito Pacific Timber Tbk, which by 1993 had become the largest listed company on the Jakarta Stock Exchange. As the company expanded beyond timber, it was later rebranded as Barito Pacific to reflect its broader portfolio. Today, the group’s core businesses include petrochemicals, through PT Chandra Asri Pacific Tbk, and renewable energy, particularly via Barito Renewables and its subsidiary Star Energy Geothermal.

Pangestu has continued to consolidate his position in the energy sector. In 2022, Green Era, a Singapore-based firm under his control, acquired a 33.33 percent stake in Star Energy from Thailand’s BCPG for $440 million, giving him full ownership of the geothermal company. This move further strengthened his influence in Indonesia’s growing renewable energy industry.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources:“Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 5: East/Southeast Asia:” edited by Paul Hockings, 1993; “Culture and Customs of Indonesia” by Jill Forshee, Greenwood Press, 2006; National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Encyclopedia.com, Library of Congress, Indonesia Tourism website (indonesia.travel), Indonesia government websites, Live Science, The Conversation, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Google AI, Wikipedia, The Guardian and various websites, books and other publications.

Last updated April 2026