Ronna Nirmala – Hutomo Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former President Suharto, announced his first foray into the media industry with an undisclosed investment to launch a news portal.
Tommy, as the businessman is known, said at the launch of the Web site, pelitaonline.com, on Tuesday that he hoped the portal would become "part of the independent mainstream media" within a year.
Sulastomo, the Web site's chairman, said it was the online version of the Indonesian-language daily Harian Pelita and would be free of all interests, including those of its owners.
"Pelita Online will not be a vehicle for anyone," he said. "It is an independent media company, including with respect to its owners." He said Tommy was the majority shareholder in the portal, but declined to discuss the size of his stake.
The site's launch comes just days after Tommy won a controversial lawsuit against Garuda Indonesia over an article published in its in-flight magazine in 2009. Tommy was awarded Rp 12.5 billion ($1.5 million) in damages after a court ruled that the magazine had defamed the businessman when it referred to him as a convicted murderer.
In 2002, Tommy was jailed for 15 years for ordering the July 2001 murder of Supreme Court Justice Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who convicted him of fraud in 2000. The fraud conviction was overturned and he was freed after serving just four years of his murder sentence.
Nezar Patria, chairman of the Association of Independent Journalists (AJI), meanwhile, said the sizeable market for online news would have proved tempting for Tommy, whose auto firm Timor Putra Nasional, which was founded with massive state subsidies when his father was still in power, collapsed in 1999 with debts of Rp 4.05 trillion.
"Considering the growing number of people getting their news through online portals, I can understand why Tommy is thinking of getting into the business," Nezar said.
Alwi Dahlan, a media analyst, warned that Tommy should tread carefully with his latest business venture.
"News portals aren't like fashion," he said. "Over the past 15 years, many people have failed in this kind of business because they didn't have good plans – not just to build the business but also to map out survival strategies."
[Additional reporting from Antara.]