Friends and connections hold the key to riches in Kalimantan’s Barito region
<br
Akiko Morishita
 |
HA Sulaiman HB, aka Haji LemanGolkar Kalimantan Selatan |
Business is booming in Indonesia and not just in Jakarta. In the regions, the last few decades of economic growth saw the slow emergence of a new breed of politically-connected local businesspeople who sometimes achieved extraordinary wealth, especially in resource-rich provinces. With the new era of democracy and decentralisation, such people have come into their own, using their political connections to increase their wealth, and their wealth to buy political influence. One such provincial strongman is Haji Leman, a wily timber baron and coal miner who has become the power behind several thrones in South and Central Kalimantan.
Kalimantan’s rich forest resources have long invited extensive logging and continue to do so. Huge tracts of land have been opened for oil palm plantations in the last decade. During the Suharto era the central government exercised complete control through Forest Concession Rights (Hak Pengusahaan Hutan, HPH). It handed them out to state-owned companies, the military, and Jakarta-based conglomerates close to Suharto. In Central Kalimantan, many large-scale logging concessions went to the state-owned enterprise Inhutani III and to well-connected Jakarta-based private timber conglomerates such as Barito Pacific Timber, PT Sari Bumi Kusuma Kalteng, and Djajanti Djaja.
However, local businesspeople also benefited, through subcontracts. They were given jobs ranging from recruiting and
