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Insight: Indonesia tycoon Bakrie gears up for presidential bid By Olivia Rondonuwu and Matthew Bigg Posted 2012/05/20 at 5:03 pm EDT TANGERANG, Indonesia, May 20, 2012 (Reuters) — There are many ways to describe Indonesia's Aburizal Bakrie:multi-millionaire businessman, global mining tycoon, heavyweightcontender for the presidency in 2014. One description that does notspring to mind is man of the common people. So when Bakrie strode into a railway station in south Jakarta lastweek and slapped the equivalent of one U.S. dollar down on thecounter for a ticket, it was a moment of political theatre. It also signaled an early step in the march to presidentialelections in mid-2014 in the world's most populous Muslim-majoritynation. Secular Indonesia, a hot favorite of internationalinvestors, is a sprawling archipelago of largely untapped mineralriches, an increasingly wealthy middle class and an economic growthrate last year of 6.5 percent. But in a country in which it is deemed unseemly to openly declareambition, Bakrie, chairman of the nationalist Golkar Party,stressed he was merely testing the waters. "It is not yet a campaign," the 65-year-old told Reuters. "The purpose of the trip is to give a speech, a motivation speechto .. high school students, to meet small vendors, to see also theagriculture, to see what their problems are so that I can tell mylegislators," he said. In fact, Bakrie was doing all the things that politicians do on thecampaign trail. He was also confronting what his aides say is anobstacle on the road to the presidency: the perception that as amember of Indonesia's elite he is out of touch with the people. Bakrie is one of Indonesia's wealthiest men, ranked number 30 byForbes magazine with a net worth of around $900 million. He isconsidered one of the most successful pribumi, or nativeIndonesian, businessmen in a country where commerce is dominated byethnic Chinese. Until 2004, Bakrie headed the mining, palm oil andtelecommunications conglomerate founded by his father Achmad, thatis associated with London-listed coal venture Bumi Plc. Operationsare now overseen by a brother. Early opinion polls put Bakrie trailing in the list of possiblecandidates to take over from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonoafter his second and final term, but with the power of Golkarbehind him and his own resources, he is seen as the man to beat. Golkar, the second biggest party in Yudhoyono's coalition, was thepolitical vehicle of strongman President Suharto, who ruled thearchipelago for over three decades until 1998. Yudhoyono is yet to endorse a candidate from his Democrat Party;however there are some familiar names in the running. The opposition Greater Indonesia Movement Party has namedbusinessman and former general Prabowo Subianto, once married to adaughter of Suharto, as its candidate. The opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle is dividedin its support between former President Megawati Sukarnoputri,daughter of the country's first president, and her own daughter,Puan Maharani. Neither woman has said she will seek the party's nomination. Indonesian mining graphic link.reuters.com/xej47s ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ NOMINATION Bakrie, who has served in cabinet as Yudhoyono's chief economicminister, has first to win Golkar's nomination for 2014 at aconvention likely next month. To do so, he must overcome resistancein part from senior party leader Akbar Tandjung, but that is notseen as a problem. "He is very likely to become the presidential candidate becausenobody is as strong as him in Golkar," said Sunny Tanuwidjaja ofthe Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think tankbased in Jakarta. The party is also in the midst of a rebuilding exercise. Itspresidential candidate in 2009, Jusuf Kalla, secured just 12percent of the vote behind Yudhoyono and Megawati and some votersare wary of its identification with Suharto's authoritarian era. Bakrie must also overcome the fallout from an environmentalaccident in 2006 when a mud volcano erupted near a gas drillingsite in east Java, inundating several villages. The cause of the eruption is disputed with the drilling company,part-owned by the Bakrie Group, blaming an earthquake. Manyvillagers, however, blame Bakrie. Mud spews to this day and couldtaint Bakrie's prospects in a voter-rich region of the country. Golkar however believes its time has come. It has in recent monthsassiduously worked to delineate its policies from its coalitionpartners, aided by a series of corruption scandals within theDemocrat Party that have hurt its standing with voters. "Golkar was born to be in power and to lead .... But it ischanging. From a kingmaker, Golkar now wants to be the king. Wetried this twice (in 2004 and 2009 elections) and we failed," saidYorrys Raweyai, a member of Golkar's central board. "I am optimistic (that we can be more successful with Bakrie as acandidate) but in a realistic kind of way," he said. "BORN AT THE FINISH LINE" Although it is trying to distance itself from Suharto's shadow,Golkar remains staunchly nationalist. Growing calls from some Golkar politicians for Indonesia to securemore revenue from its abundant resources to sustain its rapidgrowth and service its growing middle class have left some foreigninvestors nervous. Last month, Golkar politicians opposed a bid by Singapore's DBSGroup to take over local lender Bank Danamon, and said they wantedto bar heavy foreign ownership of local banks. The party was also instrumental in scuppering a government push toreduce subsidies on fuel prices - long called for by economists andrating agencies - after widespread public protests. For Bakrie himself, there are other issues that could affect apotential candidacy, beside the mud volcano. The Bakrie Group, though no longer led by the politician, couldstand to gain from recent mining policy changes including one underwhich foreign companies must divest 51 percent within 10 years. His business decisions have also been questioned. The group has ahistory of running into debt crises and emerging from them byselling off assets, as well as making acquisitions through debtlinked to shares in its firms. Currently, the group is struggling with a covenant breach on a $437million loan for which the Bakries had pledged their 23.8 percentin Bumi Plc, one of the world's largest exporters of thermal coal,as collateral. But such issues seemed far away during Bakrie's tour of the Jakartasuburbs of Depok and Tangerang as voters, many struggling on lowincomes, were preoccupied with what more the state could do to helpthem. "I told him to pay attention to the state of the trains in Jakarta,how the trains often come late, there are lost signals, how thefleet for passengers is too small, how there's not enoughmaintenance," said Syaifudin, an online marketer who was listeningto one of his speeches. For his part, Bakrie confined himself to remarks on leadership andthe work ethic, with few references either to the coming politicalbattle or the nation's policy challenges. "Never give up and don't stand in the dark for too long because ifyou do even your best friend will leave you," he said in a speechto high school students. "Who is your best friend? Your shadow.Find fresh ideas and get up to work," he said. Senior party officials said his strategy during the twice-monthlyroadshows around the country is to broaden his appeal as a nationalleader to voters such as students who can vote in 2014. They were also testing their own organizational skills: hetravelled in a motorcade that stopped traffic and was accompaniedby a squad of young workers, all dressed in T-shirts bearing hisinitials, ARB, and armed with walkie-talkies. Yet they said the prevailing view of him as a successful member ofthe elite which gives him credibility as a candidate could also beseen as a weakness. "Ical was born on the finish line, he has nothing else to fightfor. He was rich when he was born," said Indra Jaya Piliang, headof Golkar's policy review department, using Bakrie's diminutivename. "This (roadshow) campaign will make him say 'Hi' to the people atthe grassroots. In his office, who dares to debate him?," he toldReuters. Still, the approach has its limits. He travelled by train the firstday. The next day he arrived in Tangerang in a helicopter. (Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan). 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