Sudono Salim or Lim Sioe Liong (16 July 1916 – 10 June 2012), also known as Om (Uncle) Liem was an Indonesian

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and

businessman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

. He was the richest individual in Indonesia. He was the founder and chairman of the conglomerate

Salim Group The Salim Group is Indonesia's biggest conglomerate and refers to companies where the Salim family holds majority ownership. Its assets include Indofood Sukses Makmur, the world's largest instant noodle producer; Indomobil Group, one of Indon ...

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 () in Fuqing,

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern 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 capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. According to the

Chinese zodiac The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the Chinese calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year (or duodenary) cycle. The zodiac is very important in traditional ...

, 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 Liem Sioe Hie and brother-in-law Zheng Xusheng in Kudus,

Central Java Central Java (, ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogya ...

. 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 Americ ...

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 Aroma compound, fragrance in fin ...

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

Indonesian National Revolution The Indonesian National Revolution (), also known as 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 A ...

with medical supplies and came into contact with

Suharto Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician, and dictator, who was the second and longest serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1967 to 1998. His 32 years rule, cha ...

, 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 (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

, 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 The Indonesian National Armed Forces (; abbreviated as TNI) are the military forces of the Republic of Indonesia. It consists of the Indonesian Army, Army (''TNI-AD''), Indonesian Navy, Navy (''TNI-AL''), and Indonesian Air Force, Air Force ('' ...

. 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 in 1957. Following the

Asian financial crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide economic meltd ...

, 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 and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

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 in 1973. In 1990, he established the food manufacturer Indofood, Indonesia's largest maker of instant noodles. In 1992, Salim handed over management of the conglomerate

to his son Anthoni Salim. By 1997, the Salim Group presided over

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

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

Asian Financial Crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide economic meltd ...

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, 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, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in the United States. ''

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'' 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. Financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, so net w ...

655 million.

Personal life

Salim had three sons and one daughter. On 10 June 2012, a month before his 96th birthday, Salim died from natural causes at Raffles Hospital, Singapore.Salim Group founder dies at 95
/ref> He is buried at the

Lim Chu Kang Lim Chu Kang is a Planning areas of Singapore, planning area located in the North Region, Singapore, 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 ...

Cemetery.

References

Bibliography

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External links