The verdict passed against former managing director of Indosat Mega Media (IM2) Indar Atmanto has sent a shudder through the telecommunications business community in Indonesia. They worry that the same fate may befall them as it did IM2: found guilty of incurring losses to state in the trillions of rupiah. The IM2 executives now face jail sentences.

Several of these nervous companies are owned by foreign investors. Indosat, for example, belongs t