Rebirth 1973 - Chapter 53 Conversation With Soeharto
“Welcome to Indonesia, Mr. Henry. Please sit down first.” Soeharto was the first one who opened the conversation.
Henry sit down across Soeharto and replied, “Thank you for your warm welcome last night, Mr. President.”
“Hahaha, it’s nothing. I’m sorry for what happened last night as it was outside of my expectation. But I already give a warning to Soekardi and punish him, so please rest assured.” Soeharto says while smiling.
“That’s it ?” Henry ask
“That’s it, I promise you something like that won’t happen again under my watch.” Soeharto says with an easy tone.
Henry can only smile when he heard Soeharto reply. But there is nothing he can do for now, but this is not going to end just like that.
“I have heard your deed in the United States, Mr. Henry. A Genius, Multi-Millionaire, and Best Selling Author. Truly outstanding youngster if I say, there is no one in your generation I know can even touch your shadow.” Soeharto praised Henry with his most sincere tone.
Henry can only sheepishly smile, but he always on guard as he still doesn’t know what purpose Soeharto invited him.
“But there is one thing that I curious about. Why would someone like you come to Indonesia from Nepal while bringing 432 people ?” Soeharto asked casually.
Henry heartbeat rising up a little when he heard Soeharto asked that. He knows this will come as his arrival in Indonesia already exposed. He did not know who exposed him as the Indonesian government will not take the initiative to investigate him.
“Actually they are a worker that I recruited from Nepal. A cheap labor force that can be bred for generation, do you understand what I mean, Mr. President ?” Henry says while smiling.
Soeharto thoughtfully looks at Henry. They just stare at each other for 5 minutes each with their thought.
“Hahaha, let’s not talk about this anymore as I have a more important thing to say.” Soeharto suddenly laughing.
Henry didn’t know why Soeharto laughing, but everything is alright if they didn’t discuss the Gurkhas.
“I know you confused why would I know your arrival? Well, someone told about you to me using an International Call directly into my office just 2 hours before your landing.
I don’t know who he is, but he must be an American people from his voice.” Soeharto begins to explain to Henry.
Henry brain immediately thinking fast about who will the mysterious caller be. Senator John, Louis, and that another Senator. This 3 people is the only one who has the ability to execute an International Call into a president office.
But they should have no reason to reveal him which didn’t give any benefit by doing so. The 2 Senator should not be the one, so the most suspicious is Louis! Louis has a grudge with him which he understands.
But why would he do something this idiot which didn’t give him any benefit? The most important thing is how can Louis do an International Call directly into a president office?
This matter seems a conspiracy to him, but he still didn’t understand what the mysterious caller aimed.
“I want to ask you something, Mr. President. Do you know how his voice characteristic be?” Henry can only hope a clue from Soeharto. Even though Soeharto can construct a lie to him, but Soeharto should have no reason to lie either.
“Actually I don’t give special attention to the caller since it was already night time. But I remember his voice seems very stiff, almost like a robot voice. Yeah, a robot voice.” Soeharto answered while rubbing his chin.
Soeharto answer only make Henry more confused, a robot voice? Has someone pre-recorded the voice and played it for the call? All of this did not seem to make any sense as who the fuck would do this matter with no reason.
“Let’s discuss another thing, I heard you are a multi-millionaire? I seem have read your wealth already reached $200 Million in the New York Times. Do you have any interest to invest at Indonesia?
I heard from my secretary Soetopo that you can speak Indonesian and that Indonesia has great potential as a country ?” Soeharto directly says his main intention.
Henry suddenly realized that maybe Soeharto didn’t have any bad intentions at all. But what worried him the most is that mysterious caller, what motive he have to him and many other unanswerable things.
Now that Soeharto wants him to invest in Indonesia, maybe this is a chance too.
“Give me a minute to think.”
His wealth is now shrinking at a very rapid pace, there is only about $20 Million left in his UBS account. Luckily he didn’t have to pay tax last year because he still counted as minor. But he sure that IRS gonna collect the tax for this year which he can’t be avoided.
Now there’s an opportunity to invest in Indonesia, of course, he attracted. Indonesia is always is known for its rich natural resource. You can almost find all natural resource like woods, various mineral, oil, and many more. If not because of that, why would Indonesia be colonized for over 3 century?
But to choose which direction to invest is a little hard to decide in just quick thinking.
“May I ask you something, Mr. President? Which sector can I invest?” Henry asked.
“How much would you spend?” Soeharto asked back while shaking his leg.
“I would be honest to you, I only have $20 Million right now that can be freely spent. While I can’t use all of it, I can use $10 Million immediately.
Not just that, if you want to wait for a year, I will have about $1 Billion. So I would like to know which sector can I invest, I think this would be the best for us.” Henry throw a big bait to Soeharto.
He knows what truly Soeharto want as it seems his corruption is already started. There is too many places to invest all over the world. But since only Indonesia can be accessed for now, he must doing his best.
Especially with Soeharto as backing, his position in Indonesia would be unshakeable.