Bernard Estrade, Jakarta – The Suharto family is one of the richest in the world worth up to $ US40 billion ($ A64 billion) according to some estimates.
That is similar to the figure that the International Monetary Fund and other countries pledged to help save the ruined Indonesian economy.
Between them, the six Suharto children control banks, car firms, power stations, motorways, forests, television stations and many of Jakarta's new skyscrapers. There is hardly a sector of daily life for Indonesia's 200 million people that the family do not touch.
But their empire is now at risk with the end of Suharto's 32-year reign as Indonesia's leader.
Suharto recently denied for the first time one Forbes magazine report estimating the family wealth at $ US16 billion ($ A25.62 billion).
A US CIA estimate in 1989 reportedly put the family worth at $ US30 billion ($ A48 billion).
The fortune accumulated by the man who has ruled Indonesia for 32 years was said to come from "investments".
Suharto's six children are in the super-rich class, with vast business interests.
Eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti "Tutut" Rukmana, 49, a cabinet minister who until a week ago, was said to be eyeing an even bigger political role, has a 32 per cent stake in the Bank of Central Asia, Indonesia's top private bank which in 1996 had assets of $ US1.1 billion ($ A1.76 billion).
Her major investments are in toll roads, rail links and power stations as well as in some 20,000 hectares of sugarcane plantations in East Timor and two private television stations.
Eldest son Sigit Harjojudanto, 46, and Rukmana also have a 32 per cent share of Bank Central Asia, in addition to stakes in other banks.
Another son, Bambamg Trihatmodjo, 45, has a major stake in the transportation of liquefied gas, of which Indonesia is one of the world's major producers. He controls a petrochemical complex, hotels and power stations in addition to a television station.
Another Suharto daughter, Siti "Titiek" Hediyati Heriyadi, who is married to General Prabowo Subianto, head of Indonesia's strategic forces, has interests in real estate, telecommunications, Sumatran palm oil plantations and forests, banking and capital markets.
Hutomo Mandala Putra "Tommy", 36, a fast car freak who bought the Italian firm Lamborghini, launched the hugely controversial "national car" Timor Putra. The vehicle is made in South Korea but taxed at half the rate of foreign cars assembled in Indonesia.
That tax break went, by order of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), along with his monopoly on cloves, an essential ingredient in the sweet flavoured cigarettes that dominate the Indonesian market.
But he still has interests in shipping as well as the oil industry and property.
IMF experts deliberately targeted some of the concessions built up by the family over the years, according to analysts.
Under the bailout plan, a $ US1.6 billion ($ A2.56 billion) power plant sponsored by the eldest daughter was cancelled. A bank owned by the middle son Bambang was closed.
The family have always defended their business empire by saying it provided jobs for Indonesians and underpinned the economy.
Many experts say the family will not give up without a struggle and that could become a new focal point of protests.
The army leadership highlighted just after Suharto stood down today that it would protect the former president and his family.