{"id":583719,"date":"2026-08-05T07:26:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T07:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/583719\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T07:26:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T07:26:20","slug":"are-indonesias-prabowo-and-ultra-rich-9-dragons-on-a-collision-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/583719\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Indonesia\u2019s Prabowo and ultra rich \u20189 Dragons\u2019 on a collision course?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/indonesia?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Indonesian<\/a> President <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/prabowo-subianto?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Prabowo Subianto<\/a>\u2019s push to reorganise Southeast Asia\u2019s largest economy around a stronger, more interventionist state has put him increasingly at odds, analysts say, with the country\u2019s so-called Nine Dragons.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Known locally as Sembilan Naga, the label is a loose shorthand for some of Indonesia\u2019s richest tycoon families \u2013 many of them Chinese Indonesian \u2013 with interests spanning banking, tobacco, property, palm oil, mining and consumer goods.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">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.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Prabowo has not explicitly named the Nine Dragons as targets, but analysts say his warnings about wealth leaking overseas, his drive to centralise key exports and his effort to marshal tycoon money for state projects all suggest a broader bid to bring Indonesia\u2019s old business elite under firmer state control.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cPrabowo may not mention names, but there\u2019s no mistake he\u2019s taking potshots at the dragons,\u201d said Made Supriatma, a visiting fellow in the Indonesia Studies Programme at the ISEAS \u2013 Yusof Ishak Institute, whose research focuses on Indonesian state bureaucracy.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Labourers work at a construction site in Jakarta in July. Indonesia\u2019s so-called Nine Dragons have interests spanning banking, tobacco, property, palm oil, mining and consumer goods. Photo: EPA\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2b70d359-d3c0-4307-b6fc-dfb1d9644782_1126e908.jpg\" title=\"Labourers work at a construction site in Jakarta in July. Indonesia\u2019s so-called Nine Dragons have interests spanning banking, tobacco, property, palm oil, mining and consumer goods. Photo: EPA\"\/>Labourers work at a construction site in Jakarta in July. Indonesia\u2019s so-called Nine Dragons have interests spanning banking, tobacco, property, palm oil, mining and consumer goods. Photo: EPA<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Yet the limits of Prabowo\u2019s leverage run both ways: the tycoons remain deeply embedded in the Indonesian economy, while the president still needs private capital to help fund his flagship programmes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto\u2019s push to reorganise Southeast Asia\u2019s largest economy around a stronger, more interventionist state has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[246521,246513,246511,72,246517,113,246509,246518,61,1665,246512,60,246514,246515,246510,246519,246520,246516,246508],"class_list":["post-583719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-agung-sedayu","tag-attorney-generals-office","tag-barito-pacific","tag-business","tag-djarum","tag-economy","tag-golden-agri-resources","tag-haji-isam","tag-ie","tag-indonesia","tag-indonesian-president-prabowo-subianto","tag-ireland","tag-jhonlin-group","tag-lippo-group","tag-nine-dragons","tag-patriot-bonds","tag-salim-group","tag-sembilan-naga","tag-suharto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}