Sukanto Tanoto - Biography

Biography

Born on Christmas Day 1949, Sukanto Tanoto was the eldest of seven boys. His father was an immigrant from the Putian city Fujian province of the mainland China. In 1966, when he was just 17 years old, Tanoto's education was suddenly put into an abrupt stop, because all local Chinese schools were shut down by Suharto after he took over the presidency. Tanoto immediately conducted his first business. "I was studying in a Chinese school. I wasn't allowed to go to a national school because my parents held Chinese citizenship. I was considered a foreigner. I never learnt Bahasa Indonesia formally," Tanoto recalls.

Working for 16 hours a day, the young Tanoto slowly moved from a common trading to snare contracts in building gas pipelines for multinational companies. His luck began to show up during the 1972 oil crisis. Oil prices went hike and oil producers rapidly expanded their operations. Tanoto's contracts grew dramatically and he managed to cash in his first US 1 million dollars.

With some capitals at hands, Sukanto Tanoto tried to force his luck on bigger business. Tanoto noticed that Indonesia exported wooden logs, which were then converted into plywood abroad in countries like Japan or Taiwan and then imported back to Indonesia with higher costs. Realizing this inefficiency and also an opportunity, Tanoto then wanted to start business in the pulp industry. However, he first needed a permit.

In the Suharto's administration era, it was a common practice to conduct business with politicians, who in turn were army generals, to ease permit applications. A skeptical army general, who at first doubted Tanoto's business plan, agreed to give him a 'permission' with a requirement that Tanoto must report him back when the factory is finished. In 10 months, Tanoto built his first pulp mill, Inti Indorayon Utama in the North Sumatra province. The army general was impressed and he alerted the country's top leader. On 7 August 1975, Suharto descended to Medan to inaugurate the factory. The new pulp industry initiated Tanoto's business with Suharto, which swiftly made himself as a new Indonesian tycoon in the 1980s.

Sukanto Tanoto was a self-educated entrepreneur. He felt pity that he could not continue his education. He learned English word-by-word using a Chinese-English dictionary. In the mid 1970s, when he had established his business empire, he finally went to a business school in Jakarta. Feeling unsatisfied, he continued to study at INSEAD, a reputable business school in Fountainbleau, France. The feeling of having a dropped-out school makes him enthusiastic on pursuing more education. He makes a frequent visit to management courses at top universities, such as Harvard, Stanford, Kellogg, Wharton, Carnegie Mellon, etc., which he calls it a 'management holiday'.

In the mid 1990s, Tanoto and his family relocated to Singapore and is having its base operation there. The Indonesian press speculated over this move that Tanoto was trying to seek safe place as a financial fugitive. Tanoto denies the allegation and is arguing that the relocation is merely for the effectiveness to meet with his international clients. He claims that he is still holding Indonesian passport and citizenship.