Are Indonesia’s Prabowo and ultra rich ‘9 Dragons’ on a collision course?
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is implementing more interventionist economic policies that appear to challenge the influence of the country's wealthiest business families, known as the 'Nine Dragons.' While the president seeks to centralize control over key exports and state projects, analysts note that the government remains dependent on private capital from these same tycoons.
Why it matters
The tension between the Indonesian state and its powerful business elite could significantly impact the country's economic stability and investment climate.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s push to reorganise Southeast Asia’s largest economy around a stronger, more interventionist state has put him increasingly at odds, analysts say, with the country’s so-called Nine Dragons.
Known locally as Sembilan Naga, the label is a loose shorthand for some of Indonesia’s richest tycoon families – many of them Chinese Indonesian – with interests spanning banking, tobacco, property, palm oil, mining and consumer goods.
It has never referred to a formally confirmed group but is widely used in public discussion of powerful conglomerates associated with business empires such as Djarum, Salim Group, Lippo Group, Golden Agri-Resources, Barito Pacific and Agung Sedayu.
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