https://www.quora.com/Indonesia-What-does-it-feel-like-to-be-the-son-daughter-of-Indonesia%E2%80%99s-top-XX-richest <https://www.quora.com/Indonesia-What-does-it-feel-like-to-be-the-son-daughter-of-Indonesia’s-top-XX-richest>
Indonesia: What does it feel like to be the son/daughter of Indonesia’s top XX richest I have one relative who was included in "Daftar 150 Orang Terkaya Indonesia" by Globe Asia. My dad was not on that list but I know that our net worth is substantially higher than my relative's quoted net worth. We would rank in the top 100 or so according to the magazine but of course it would be an overestimation. I personally know at least ten unlisted-in-rich-guys-list friends with more than US$100 million net worth in the family, more than the net worth of the 150th guy on the list. I dated granddaughter of a billionaire, one of my closest friends is a grandson of a billionaire and they both say that Forbes includes only half of their real net worth. It is worth noting that Forbes or Globe can only access value of public companies accurately while there are great number of undetected capital controlled by the owners of big family businesses. While the last of 150 guys in Globe has around US$90 million net worth or roughly equal to 1 trillion IDR which means there are only 150 people with net worth of at least 1 trillion IDR in Indonesia, I believe that there are actually at least 500 IDR trillionaires in the country so ~US$500 million of our family should come only in the top 200 or 300. I copied this answer from my own answer on another question thread and pasted it here, hope it doesn't go against Quora's rule. My mother's side of the family was very wealthy. A little bit rare among wealthy Indonesians nowadays who are mostly new riches (only around two or three generations), their wealth can be traced back at least since 1800s during the Qing Dynasty. Arriving as immigrants, or to be precise, refugees from the civil war in China during early 1900s, they were one of the wealthiest families in Surabaya during the Dutch occupation, at the time when Surabaya was the largest city in Dutch East Indies and virtually the center of trading in the nation, exceeding those of Batavia, competing with the likes of Singapore and Hong Kong. Another branches of our family fled to the Straits Settlements (Malaysia and Singapore) and some are still very wealthy until today. Getting their money mainly from inheritance and political connections (my great-great-grandfather and several of his relatives were quite prominent in China at that time. His father, brother and at least two if his relatives have their own Wikipedia pages and during my visit to our ancestral hometown in China several years ago I was surprised that a lot of older people there still recognize my great-great-grandfather), my great-grandfather had no skill in real world business and spent his fortune on women, gambling, and shits. He got six wives and more than thirty children. His first wife (my great-grandmother) was quite exceptional for a lady of her generation. She spoke good English and Dutch (we still have her book collection and letters from her friends across the globe) and lived enviable jet-set lifestyle, sharing her time living in the Netherlands, US, Hong Kong, and Siam/Thailand, which was pretty unusual for an Asian lady at that time. My grandfather is the only son of hers and as Chinese custom says, he inherited most of family fortune when my great-grandfather died in 1970s. Those included were heirloom jewelleries, properties in Hong Kong and the States, numerous big houses at most strategic locations of Surabaya like Raya Darmo and Manyar, almost one hundred shophouses in Surabaya and Malang, and a poorly managed rubber plantation in Jambi. He also had no good business sense and went bankrupt just several years before I was born in late 1980s. Now in his 70s, he is still very wealthy by any standards but is dirt poor compared what he used to be. My paternal line of the family was the exact antithesis. Grew up dirt poor with not enough food, my grandmother experienced hardship raising her children. She often tells me stories about how her mother divided an egg for seven of her children. She educated her children pretty well, my dad and all of his brothers and sisters are either medical doctors or graduated from good German universities (because they are free!). Some brothers of my grandmothers are also doing well. One of them established a medium size cigarette company and another one is into oil palm and coal now. My dad started his business from scratch and now the revenue from his companies is in hundred millions US$ per year. Growing up was easy. From my childhood time, I could always have anything that I wanted. Whatever I wanted, I got. As simple as that. Want to see real dinosaur bones? Mom took me to the States. Want to see real lions after watching The Lion King? Went to South Africa when I was 7. Hong Kong or Sydney for the weekend? I've done that. Want fast cars? The first car I drove was a Ferrari Berlinetta (F355) when I learned to drive at 14 which I crashed into my dad's Mercedes-Benz S500 and the wall of our garage just one week later. Then I got Porsche 911 (996) for my 16th birthday present. My daily car during highschool was a Range Rover which I requested to my dad just because I want to stand out among BMWs and Mercedeses of my classmates. We also traveled constantly. Even before highschool, I had already been to 40 countries. My parents both love the sea, so we’d spend holidays in Fiji or Maldives. We own one main residence each in Surabaya and Jakarta, both are in one of the best (if not the best) neighborhoods. One is 2500 square meters and the other is around 4500 square meters. We employ a total of 9 asisten rumah tanggas for both houses. Pak kebuns, kokis, pak sopirs, pak satpams not included. For most part of my childhood, sadly I was raised by these people. Like many other children of wealthy parents, my childhood was a little bit lonely. My father was not home 7 days out of 10, and my mother attended her own events. I wasted my highschool doing crazy stuffs. I was into party everyday, doing car race at South Jakarta or at the highway all the nights, frequenting nightclubs, drinking excessive alcohols, renting private jet for shopping and lunch in Singapore with my friends, doing private heli trips to Bali just for killing boredom, and shits. It got even worse during my college time abroad. With practically unlimited source of money available for me, I did all the craziest things you can imagine before got kicked by the university. Fortunately I went back on track early, finisihing college after bloody struggle. I am really grateful of that since a lot of my wealthy childhood friends are still in their crazy life even until now. Went back to Indonesia, I started several businesses (restaurants, cafes, office buildings, ruko complexes, and low budget housing complexes) with my highschool friends while helping to do tiring overseas business trip replacing my dad for our family companies. I live rather down-to-earth lifestyle now. I live at my own apartment which I bought myself from my own savings. I drive nice but not extravagant car anymore. Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini? Sold. No US$20000 watches. No ridiculous luxury stuffs. My only splurge last year was buying used Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG for half of the new price, got tailored clothings by a Singaporean guy instead of mass-produced ones, flying business instead of coach, several ridiculously expensive dinners, and doing grocery shopping only at Ranch Market. Now I'm trying to live as normal as possible, and it seems to suit me very well. Beside watching movies with my partner and friends, my hobby now is donating anonymously for causes matter to me on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or Kitabisa and to dogs and cats shelters. In recent years we also contributed to clean water projects and donated to schools in impoverished areas. I sent our beloved bibi (asisten rumah tangga) who had been working for our family since before I was born to Umrah and built a very nice house for our recently retired driver who worked for us more than four decades. Overall, I spent only around 50-100 juta rupiah which is less than 5% of my monthly income for myself. The rest goes to investments and charities. I always try to blend in the society, eating at warungs sometimes or driving ordinary Innova once a week but alas, once you know me for a while, it's pretty obvious what end of the spectrum I come from, still I guess I get points for acknowledging that we all come from different and equally awesome places. And the last, I would like to add something I modified from quote by Bill Gates. Being rich is surely nice but being filthy rich is overrated. After you hit US$20 million or something, it is the same nasi goreng afterwards. I am sure that my nasi goreng tastes equal, if not better than Anthoni Salim, Aburizal Bakrie, Putera Sampoerna, or Budi Hartono's. Thank you for reading, sorry for writing too long, and hope that's helpful.
