Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Chief welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie is still widely perceived as politically and financially influential in the country, despite huge debts wreaking havoc on his business empire.
Experts and politicians said Wednesday they believe Aburizal, ranked by Forbes magazine last December as Indonesia's richest man for his $5.4 billion net worth, could survive the current turmoil and even become more powerful.
Members of the Golkar Party – the country's largest, and of which Aburizal is a senior patron – remain in awe of his political reach, despite the battering his group of companies is taking at the stock exchange and from debt-related problems, said Yorris Raweyai, a close aide of party chairman and Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
"We still regard him as a strong, if not the strongest, contender in Golkar's chairmanship battle, along with Pak Jusuf Kalla, (House of Representatives Speaker) Agung Laksono and (Golkar chief patron) Surya Paloh," said Yorris, who chairs the party's youth wing.
Harry Azhar Azis, a Golkar legislator and member of the House's commission on state budget affairs, said Aburizal's strong influence among party members was unaffected by the debt-related problems of his flagship PT Bakrie & Brothers.
"It's not over yet. He's a survivor and I think he will manage to overcome the current problems," he said.
Golkar legislator Yudhi Chrisnandi said that as a young member of the party, he was very proud of Aburizal's success in business and politics.
Many critics accuse Aburizal of using his political position for the benefit of his family's businesses.
In its report last December, Forbes said, "For years, he (Abirizal) has profitably – and controversially – presided as a kingmaker at the lucrative intersection of business and politics in a country often derided as among the world's most corrupt and difficult nations."
Aburizal's political clout came under scrutiny when he sought government protection for one of his companies, PT Lapindo Brantas. Lapindo is widely blamed for triggering a devastating mud volcano in Sidoarjo, East Java, two years ago, which killed 13 people and displaced more than 36,000 others.
His powerful reach was also suspected by critics to be behind the government-ordered suspension of trading in shares of Bumi Resources, a coal mining firm owned by the Bakrie family, for a month to allow Bakrie & Brothers to wrap up a deal to sell a 35 percent stake in Bumi to private equity group Northstar Pacific.
"He's still an asset, not a liability, both for Golkar and the (Yudhoyono-Kalla) administration. Of course, Golkar can still rely on Aburizal for funding, and I believe the businessman can recover," said political expert Fachry Ali.
Paramadina University political observer Bima Arya Sugiarto said Aburizal's value to both Yudhoyono and Kalla depended on how much the minister could contribute financially to their presumed 2009 presidential campaign.
"It's clear Yudhoyono and Kalla helped Aburizal out because of his significant campaign donations (in 2004). I think support from these two indicates they still trust Aburizal can contribute something for them," he said.