According to the Jakarta Globe, two more Indonesian billionaires join the Forbes top list. JB also reported that Indonesia’s richest 40 are now twice as rich.
I am seriously impressed at how in today’s economy these people became twice richer than they were before, some even tripling their net worth. But soon the impressiveness wears off and just becomes blah, bordering on disgust.
Why disgust?
Because while these people became richer than the devil, millions are struggling to come up with enough money to buy their next meal.
I hope all of these rich people donate to charities, make foundations to help the poor or give to the less fortunate, I hope that they do their part to help the community and the Indonesian people. Because I know rich people who help out in every way they can to those who are in need and still end in deep shit. For these people to enjoy an immense wealth but be all selfish and all scrooge-y while millions around them are living in hardship is an atrocity.
If they don’t do all or any of those, well, I hope they can never sleep on their thousands of dollars mattresses (probably filled with cash), their several thousand count Egyptian cotton sheets, their luxury homes and state of the art air conditioning systems. I hope they secretly suffer from multiple diseases, the more life threatening the better. But at the very least these diseases or health problems should be highly annoying and affecting their quality of life in a very bad way.
Wishful thinking, true. But one can hope, can’t she?
Wealth valuation oftentime comes from approximations of how much assets would normally sell for. In that sense, real estates, precious gems and works of art command higher numbers. So, when stock indices and house price estimates shoot up, their ‘wealth’ can easily double or triple itself. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean wealthy people are financially more secure, or that they manage to have 8 houses this year instead of the previous 4, so-called ‘wealthies’ can stumble on the most basic tenet of finance: liquidity rocks!
Try imagining the wealthies running low on cash and selling their properties to make ends meet. I bet they wouldn’t get as much bang out of their property than what newspaper sings about. (case in point: remember Ronnie Wood of the Stones fame? He’s rich, he got divorced and now he’s selling one of his houses to pay for alimony.)
So, the rich may be rolling in assets, but they ain’t as rich as they are claimed to be.
Just be thankful that Abominable Bakrie is now off the list.
You may like this article entitled ‘Don’t celebrate these billionaires, be horrified by their existence’.(I’m trying to leave a comment there.)<i><b>J</b></i>
Can I give you a shout of AMEN for your words?! It is horrific – to put it mildly – how the economic crises looks like it didn’t even hit Indonesia. The richer are getting richer and fatter while the poor is getting deeper and deeper in shit. Did you notice the grandeur of top notch wedding parties being displayed by one of that richest man here? While those mud victim barely have roofs over their heads? Disgusting alright!
“I know right? Makes me want to puke. Kesian liat nasib mayoritas yg struggling demi cari duit buat sesuap nasi. I mean, these people are like, HEARTLESS! Gak punya conscience dan empathy banget. bikin eneg!”