THAT day, in early 1998, students were still calling for reforms, notably the issue of succession. Speaking to 150 debtors in a meeting room at the Crowne Hotel in South Jakarta, Aburizal Bakrie proclaimed that the company had become powerless. “We are no longer strong enough to even pay our debts,” he said, speaking on behalf of the entire Bakrie family. The company’s debt had piled up to some US$1.08 billion.

All members of the family we