Louise Williams, Jakarta – President Soeharto's richest son, Mr Bambang Trihatmodjo, resigned from the board of his Bimantara business empire yesterday as scores of protesters outside the company's headquarters demanded trials for the Soeharto clan.
Public pressure is mounting both inside and outside Indonesia for retribution for the nepotism and corruption which handed relatives and friends of former president Soeharto lucrative business opportunities during his 32-year rule.
A United States State Department spokesman said the Government was considering an inquiry into the Soeharto family's assets in the US in case the Indonesian Government or individual citizens tried to claim them.
Contracts signed with Soeharto family partners by foreign companies - including British Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, PowerGen of Britain and RTZ - were also coming under scrutiny as officials of the new Habibie Government ordered reviews of past tender bids.
As about 50 noisy protesters shouted outside the Bimantara building, Bambang and Mr Indra Rukmana, the husband of the eldest Soeharto daughter, Mrs Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana, announced their resignations to the board.
Shares in the Bimantara Group, which has interests in the media, chemical and property, are trading at one-third of their value two months ago, and Bambang told reporters he was resigning because of the group's falling profits. However, he made no mention of whether he would sell his 38 per cent stake in the company. Bambang is the wealthiest of the Soeharto children, with a personal fortune estimated at more than $US3 billion ($4.8 billion). The Indonesian Government moved to seize control of the management of Bank Central Asia (BCA) - owned by Indonesia's richest man, Mr Liem Sioe Liong, and two of Mr Soeharto's children - after a 10-day run by depositors pushed it to the brink of collapse.
The Central Bank governor, Mr Sjahril Sabirin, called on the public to stay calm and end excessive fund withdrawals from the battered banking system. He revealed that the Government had already pumped close to $US2 billion into the banking system this month alone. The BCA, once the jewel in the crown of Mr Liem's business empire of food, cement, trading and transport companies, has a nationwide network of 8 million customers but became the target of mob violence earlier this month when mobs rampaged through Jakarta and other cities demanding Mr Soeharto's resignation. A minority share of BCA is owned by Tutut and her eldest brother.
The run on the Indonesian banking system saw 17 per cent of all domestic deposits withdrawn last week and the percentage may reach as high as 40 per cent by next week. The Indonesian Government guaranteed all deposits earlier this year in an attempt to stabilise the over-supplied and under-capitalised banking sector, which means it is now committed to printing vast sums of money to pay out depositors, pushing the economy dangerously close to hyperinflation.
Allowing BCA to collapse with millions of depositors still unpaid could trigger a new round of public opposition to the Habibie Government, which has been in power for less than two weeks.
"Hyperinflation is just around the corner," one analyst said. "They should put a stop to this and just close the bank down."
But another said: "They are probably going to end up printing money to keep banks like BCA open. While it may not be the right course, President Habibie may not have much choice."