Trump’s Indonesian Business Partner to Attend Inauguration

The Indonesian business partner of President-elect Donald Trump will be attending next week’s inauguration and also plans business meetings with Trump family members, his spokesman said Friday.

Trump’s ties to Hary Tanoesoedibjo are among the many conflicts of interest he could face as the 45th U.S. president. The property billionaire’s presidency is shaping up to have unprecedented potential to muddy U.S. national interests with his personal business interests.

Tanoesoedibjo, usually known as Tanoe, is the founder of media and real estate conglomerate MNC Group and also has political aspirations in Indonesia. The ethnic Chinese and Christian businessman has founded a political party and has said he wants to be president, though that is unlikely in Muslim-majority Indonesia because of historical antipathy to its tiny Chinese minority and the country’s current climate of rising religious intolerance.

MNC’s corporate secretary Arya Sinulingga said that Tanoe and his wife were invited to the Jan. 20 inauguration and before that will have business meetings including with Trump’s two oldest sons. “He will meet his business partners ahead of the inauguration to bolster some business deals,” Sinulingga said.

Tanoe’s company plans to start building two resorts in Indonesia this year that Trump’s business is associated with through management and licensing deals. A planned “six star” luxury resort on the tourist island of Bali would be the first hotel in Asia under the Trump Hotel brand. The second planned resort is in West Java’s Sukabumi, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of the capital Jakarta. (StarTribune.com)