The Oil 'King' and the Gushing Biography
The book was launched last March. After 22 years, the biography, Ibnu Sutowo: On A Revolution Mission, has been republished, yet without any significant changes. Author Mara Karma’s offering reeks of empathy and sympathy for his subject, without once touching on the phenomenal corruption scandal at the state oil and gas company Pertamina. For the past two decades, facts on corruption involving Ibnu Sutowo’s name have bubbled up to the surface. Such rotten deeds at Pertamina—‘old hat’ now—are the focus of an ongoing discussion of the oil and gas bill at the House of Representatives (DPR).
July 24, 2001
"I was fired by Suharto in 1976, while I was at the top of the success ladder. He blamed me for refusing his proposal for a business which I thought was wrong…"
That was Ibnu Sutowo's confession in his last interview in 1999—after his long disappearance from publications. The interview in The Jakarta Post daily was quoted in its entirety in the book Ibnu Sutowo: On a Revolution Mission, launched several months back. Th
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