IN the business world there is an old theory that was conceived by the Austrian-American economist Joseph Schumpeter: dare to be optimistic and make use of other people's money. For Aburizal Bakrie, this theory has been put into practice by putting up other people's assets in order to obtain money from yet other people. So, in 2003, he bid on the stock of Kaltim Prima Coal, a coal company, despite being low on funds.

Two years earlier, Bakrie & Brot