Sudono Salim (16 July 1916 – 10 June 2012), also known as Liem Sioe Liong, was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

-born

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

banker and businessman. He was the richest individual in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. He was the founder and chairman of the conglomerate Salim Group before handing over its management to his youngest son Anthoni Salim (now the fifth wealthiest person in Indonesia) in 1992.

Early life

In 1916, Salim was born as Lim Sioe Liong (Lin Shaoliang), in

Fuqing (; Foochow Romanized: Hók-chiăng; also romanized as Hokchia) is a county-level city of Fujian Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou. Geography Fuqing is located in the north-central part ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, the second son of a father. According to the

Chinese zodiac The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. Originating from China, the zodiac and its variations remain ...

, he was born in the Year of the Dragon, on the seventh day of the seventh month. In 1936, he left Fujian to join his brother Lim Ke Lok and brother-in-law Zheng Xusheng in

Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four main ...

North Sumatra North Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Utara) is a province of Indonesia located on the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan. North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province after West Java, East Java and ...

. Salim diversified their

peanut oil Peanut oil, also known as groundnut oil or arachis oil, is a vegetable oil derived from peanuts. The oil usually has a mild or neutral flavor but, if made with roasted peanuts, has a stronger peanut flavor and aroma. It is often used in America ...

trading company into the

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, ...

market, which was growing rapidly from demand for production. While in Medan, his manufacturing company supplied soldiers of the

Indonesian National Revolution The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during Aftermath of WWII, postw ...

with medical supplies and came into contact with

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

, an officer of the army. Salim denied allegations that he also provided arms to Indonesian soldiers to resist Dutch forces. As soldiers seized Dutch businesses following independence, his business subsumed many of their assets and gained a monopoly in the clove market, but he denied working with Suharto in expanding his ventures.

Business career

In 1952, after moving to

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

, Salim expanded his peanut oil trading company by establishing connections with other Overseas Chinese businessmen in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively. His soap manufacturing company became one of the primary suppliers to the

Indonesian National Armed Forces , founded = as the ('People's Security Forces') , current_form = , disbanded = , branches = , headquarters = Cilangkap, Jakarta , website = , commander-in-chief = Joko Widodo , ...

. Salim later expanded his commercial activities into textile manufacturing and financial services, eventually being behind the establishment of Indonesia's largest private bank,

Bank Central Asia PT Bank Central Asia Tbk, commonly known as Bank Central Asia (BCA) is an Indonesian bank founded on 21 February 1957. It is considered as the largest privately owned bank in Indonesia. The Asian financial crisis in 1997 had a tremendous impact ...

in 1957. Following the

Asian financial crisis The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...

, he was forced to give up control of the bank to the government. In 1968, after a corporate merger, Salim gained the rights to a establish a corporate

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

on clove importation. He also established Bogasari, a joint venture with another businessman of Hokchia ancestry where the company later became Indonesia's largest miller, producer, and supplier of flour. Windfall profits from those two companies were said to have provided him with the expansion capital to finance the establishment of cement giant

Indocement PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa Tbk. ("Indocement") Indocement is one of the largest cement producers in Indonesia. Today, Indocement and its subsidiaries operate several business units that cover manufacturing and cement sales (core business) and ...

in 1973. In 1990, he established the food manufacturer

Indofood PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk is a major Indonesian company involved in the food industry. The company's headquarters are located in South Jakarta, Jakarta. History Indofood was founded in 1968 as Lambang Insan Makmur, an instant noodles busin ...

, Indonesia's largest maker of instant noodles. In 1992, Salim handed over management of the conglomerate Salim Group to his son Anthoni Salim. By 1997, the Salim Group presided over

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

20 billion in assets with more than 500 subsidiaries employing over 200,000 Indonesians. When the

Asian Financial Crisis The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...

hit, the conglomerate incurred US$4.8 billion in debt and had to give up control of Bank Central Asia in 1998 to the Indonesian government for nationalization. BCA was then 30% owned by two offspring of Suharto. During the

May 1998 riots The May 1998 riots of Indonesia ( id, Kerusuhan Mei 1998), also known as the 1998 tragedy (''Tragedi 1998'') or simply the 1998 event (''Peristiwa 1998''), were incidents of Riot, mass violence, mass protest, demonstrations, and civil unrest ...

, Salim fled to Singapore after a mob burned his home in

; his son remained back in Indonesia to ward off the mobs and resurrected the family business. Salim eventually settled in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in the United States. ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine listed him as the 25th wealthiest businessperson in Southeast Asia in 2004 with a

net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Since financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, net ...

655 million.

Personal life

Salim had three sons and one daughter. On June 10, 2012, a month before his 96th birthday, Salim passed away from natural causes in

Raffles Hospital Raffles Hospital (abbreviation: RH)( Chinese: 莱佛士医院 : Lái fú shì yīyuàn) is a tertiary care private hospital of the Raffles Medical Group, a private healthcare provider in Singapore. History On September 12, 1997, two companies, Ra ...

, Singapore.Salim Group founder dies at 95
/ref> He is buried at the

Lim Chu Kang Lim Chu Kang is a planning area located in the northwestern part of the North Region of Singapore, bordering the Western Water Catchment to the west and south, Sungei Kadut to the east and the Straits of Johor to the north. History Lim Chu K ...

Cemetery.

References

Bibliography

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External links