Mediaboss Marketing

By Janeman Latul and Fathiya Dahrul

JAKARTA | Sun May 27, 2012 10:07pm BST

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian billionaire Hary Tanoesoedibjo already has over a third of the country's TV viewers in his pocket. Now he wants the same share of votes in a general election, enough to clinch power for the political party he helps lead.

Tanoesoedibjo has built a $7.2 billion business empire in Indonesia in just 14 years, targeting the speedy growth in consumer demand among an emerging middle class in the world's fourth-most populous nation.

But business isn't the only thing on Tanoesoedibjo's mind. While he insists he has no personal political ambitions, he says the reforms carried out in Southeast Asia's biggest economy since the ouster of strongman President Suharto in 1998 have been too slow and his party could make a difference.

"The majority of people want a change," said Tanoesoedibjo, 46, in an interview.

To answer that demand, push for legal and political reform and fight corruption, he says he took up a new role last November as chairman of the board of experts in the newly-formed Nasional Demokrat Party (Nasdem), one of the senior-most positions in the party.

Tanoesoedibjo, Indonesia's 13th richest man according to Forbes, is not alone in using business as a base for a leap into politics.

Coal magnate Aburizal Bakrie, whose family controls a conglomerate, is now vying for the Golkar Party's presidential nomination ahead of elections in 2014. Indonesia also holds parliamentary elections that year.

Tanoesoedibjo, however, is a controversial figure. He has been involved in a series of legal tussles over his business dealings, including one with Suharto's eldest daughter over one of his TV units. Some investors say some of his businesses lack transparency.

Read more from the original source:
Indonesian media mogul makes leap into politics