At first glance, Bambang Sutrisno looks like your average Indonesian Chinese. Born in 1941 and of slight build, he walks along the streets of Singapore just like any other tourists from Indonesia.
However, Bambang Sutrisno is anything but your average Indonesian Chinese. Convicted of corruption in Indonesia, sentenced to life imprisonment and with an Interpol Red Notice issued against him, he is one of Indonesia's top wanted fugitives. Like many other Indonesian fugitives, he resides in Singapore.
Bambang Sutrisno together with brother Benny Suherman made their fortunes by linking up with Suwikatmono, the cousin of then President Suharto, to established PT Suptan Film. PT Suptan Film gave birth to Cineplex 21, which hosted 650 movie screens in Indonesia.
Due to disagreements, Benny Suherman and Bambang Sutrisno's relationship turned hostile in the mid 1980s. Bambang left PT Suptan Film to start up his own supermarket chain business, the well-known Golden Truly chain, in Indonesia. Bambang Sutrisno then joined the banking business and set up Bank Surya. In both Gold Truly and Bank Surya, Suwikatmono – cousin of President Suharto -- was once again involved as a partner and shareholder.
In 1997, during the economic financial crisis, the Indonesian government gave banks such as Bank Surya funds as a buffer against the crisis and Bambang Sutrisno embezzled Rp1.5 trillion from the Bank Surya and fled to neighboring Singapore.
Bambang Sutrisno was convicted of embezzlement in absentia in 1999 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Meanwhile, for more than almost two decades now, Bambang Sutrisno has been living the high life in Singapore. He has two sons and a daughter.
His youngest son, London-and-Singapore-educated Hansen Sutrisno was born in Indonesia in 1985 and attended schools in Singapore. With his ill-gained money, Bambang Sutrisno sent his youngest son Hansen Sutrisno to attend Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School in Singapore before attending Kings College London and City University in the United Kingdom where he read his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Management – all paid for with stolen money.
The Indonesian government has tried to extradite Bambang but Singapore argues that because its laws are based on English common law and Indonesian law is based on Dutch codes, the two systems are incompatible, making an extradition treaty difficult.
And recently, Hansen Sutrisno has found employment in one of Singapore's largest banks as well – allegedly the OCBC bank.
For Indonesian Chinese dragon sons such as Hansen Sutrisno, it seems that it doesn't matter where daddy's golden spoon comes from, as long as Daddy keeps feeding them well. And that seems to be the stance Singapore is adopting as well when it comes to Asian fugitives.
