Chairul Tanjung (born 16 June 1962) is an Indonesian businessman. He is the former Coordinating
Minister for Economics in the Indonesian cabinet. He was appointed to this post by President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono on 19 May 2014 following the resignation of the previous Coordinating
Minister for Economics, Hatta Rajasa, who resigned to take part in Indonesia's 2014 presidential
election.[1] In January 2015, he had an estimated net worth of $4.3 billion.[2]
Early life
Chairul Tanjung was born in Jakarta on June 16, 1962.His parents was A.G. Tanjung and Halimah.
He was born in a very rich family because his father is a reporter and established a magazine
company. In new order era, his father business got shut down by the government for helping the old
order era. His family economy turns 180 degrees where their big house and cars were sold to cover
debt and for a living, they must live in a tiny apartment. His parents wanted their children to be
successful so they worked in a company. Chairul finished the Boedi Oetomo senior high school in
1981 . He obtained a bachelor's degree at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Indonesia. He
became the national noble student in 1984 and 1985.While studying, he and his 2 friends started a
shop that sold books and T-shirts then they rapidly became a big shop selling doctors and laboratories
equipment. He must spare his time for studying and business but he chooses business, so he drops-out
from the dentistry school and established PT Pariarti Shindutama with 150 million rupiah for assets
borrowed from Exim Bank. They produced shoes for kids and got an order making 160 pairs of shoes
to Italy, but a month after the order, he separated from his 2 friends because he has a different
thinking about business. He later became the chairman and founder of CT Corp (Indonesia), along
with the late founder of Sony, Akio Morita.
Business
He worked with Morita to establish the business. He bought Bank Karman and changed its name to
Bank Mega. He expanded his business interests into insurance and securities. Chairul is now involved
in the television business; he founded Trans TV and acquired TV 7 from the Kompas-Gramedia
Group. Chairul owns property projects such as Bandung Super Mall, Batam Indah Prospertindo, Para
Bali Propertindo, and Mega Indah Propertindo. In 2012, he bought a minority share of Garuda
Indonesia. His holding company is CT Corp., formerly Para Group, with 3 subholdings:[3]
• Mega Corp., a financial business subholding
• Trans Corp., a media, life style, department store, consumer goods, hotel and entertaintment
subholding
• CT Global Resource, an agribusiness and energy subholding
• MNC Media Group (soon)
Other activities
Currently, Chairul is head of Persatuan Bulu Tangkis Seluruh Indonesia (PBSI).
Biography
A biography of Chairul Tanjung has been launched with the title Chairul Tanjung Si Anak Singkong
("Chairul Tanjung the Cassava Child," "cassava" meaning "socially inferior").[3]