Sipping a latte at the Brasserie Les Saveurs Restaurant of the St. Regis Hotel in Singapore, Toh Keng Siong recalled an incident 15 years ago. It was 1997. Gunawan Jusuf had rung him from Jakarta. The owner of the Makindo Group wanted to evacuate his entire family to Singapore as widespread rioting and unrest rocked Jakarta, in the days prior to the fall of the president Suharto.

Gunawan asked Toh to be the legal guardian of his family during t