Trump’s Indonesian Partner Thought This Would Be More Fun
Hary Tanoesoedibjo, a would-be Trump himself, is learning about the complications of being in business with the U.S. president.
Like a certain number of tycoons, including the one whose association he has most eagerly sought, Hary Tanoesoedibjo has lined his office with pictures, paintings, and cartoons of himself. On one side of the room, on a high floor of his tower in downtown Jakarta, a television blares one of the news channels he owns. Across the way, on a bookshelf, is a Make America Great Again cap signed by that other tycoon, U.S. President Donald Trump. Between a pair of brown leather chairs is a wooden table displaying a single photo—almost like a shrine—of Tanoesoedibjo with his wife, Liliana, and Trump, who signed it with the note, “Hary — You are my great friend. Thanks for your support. I’ll not forget — Best Wishes, Donald.”
The photo was taken in New York in August 2015 after the two men clinched a deal to redevelop a resort in Bali; it will be Trump’s first hotel in Asia. The following month, they announced a second deal to develop a Trump-branded luxury resort in West Java. Hary, as he’s called locally, promised to spend as much as $1 billion on the two resorts and paid Trump as much as $10.5 million in fees between 2015 and 2017. It’s one of the Trump Organization’s most lucrative overseas partnerships.