in-country for years without having once crossed paths. The booming resources and energy sectors had attracted multi-nationals, and Indonesia’s rapidly growing consumer market continued to escalate, or had, until the local currency suddenly came under pressure.
* * * *
Hamish McLoughlin was completely au fait with how precarious the monetary system had become. It had been his business to understand the mechanics of money, and how funds flowed, for more than twenty years.
Having graduated with honors from Cambridge University in England, Hamish was recruited by Morgan & Morgan as part of their British team.
Encouraged to continue his studies whilst in their employ, he forwent the many leisure opportunities and relationships which came his way, dedicating his time instead to furthering his career. Four demanding years passed and, armed with his Masters in Business Administration, Hamish McLoughlin was delighted to accept a newly created position with the international fund management group, as their Hong Kong based representative.
It was there, during his three years dealing with the financial wizards of Asia that the relatively young financier attracted the attention of the International Monetary Fund. Two years later he moved to Washington where he consolidated his position and reputation, amongst some of the world’s most powerful financiers as a skillful negotiator and lateral thinker.
It was during this time that he had met and married, the daughter of a prominent Boston banker. Unfortunately, his expertise could in no way have prepared him for the bitterness which would then occupy his life.
Eight months into their marriage, during one of Washington’s typically bleak winter mornings, black ice sent his inexperienced wife’s car skidding sideways through an intersection and to her death, when her vehicle lost control. Desolated by his loss, Hamish had struggled to recover emotionally, but found this impossible surrounded by constant reminders of his brief happiness and, quite out of character, packed his clothes one morning and left his world behind.
Eighteen months flashed by quickly. He started in Mexico, consuming excessive amounts of alcohol, his days spent sitting alone in dark bars, his nights lost wandering through an alcoholic mist. He continued in drunken stupor, often awakening in accommodations with no recollection of where he might be. Awash with tequila, he dragged himself and his self-indulgences through Panama, down to South America and through the tourist traps until copious amounts of alcohol necessitated a stint drying out in a Brazilian clinic. When he resumed his travels, Hamish found himself in Africa where again he was hospitalized with suspected alcoholic poisoning, still drowning in his own self-pity, still looking for closure over his past.
In hospital, while recovering from the abuse his liver and other vital organs had endured through two years of punishing drinking bouts, he finally accepted that he must live with his loss, recognizing that failure to come to terms with what had happened might cost him his own life. Recalling how he had enjoyed earlier years in Hong Kong, Hamish McLoughlin decided to return there and re-establish himself as a financial adviser, offering his expertise to the growing financial markets found amongst the emerging tigers of South East Asia. Emaciated by prolonged abuse, Hamish set about restoring his health, undertaking a rigorous fitness campaign. Slowly and painfully, his condition returned, as did much of his self-esteem. Several months passed and, satisfied that he had successfully exorcised his ghosts, Hamish flew to the British colony, and commenced the next chapter in his life.
Occupying one of the newly constructed condominium apartments perched among Hong Kong’s Mid-Levels, Hamish used his remaining funds to establish a finance consultancy, taking advantage of the British colony’s favorable corporate and taxation laws. Within two years, his company, Perentie Limited, had achieved considerable success, and the company’s reputation for writing deals already legendary.
Offered a staggering amount he believed to be grossly excessive, McLoughlin willingly relinquished control of Perentie to a group of British investors, agreeing to remain on the board only until the transition to new management had been successfully completed. At that time, Hamish resigned his position and commenced trading currencies in his own right, achieving spectacular results. It was during this period that a run on the Thai Baht triggered a series of events creating extreme panic from Bangkok to Seoul, then down to Indonesia where Perentie had overly exposed themselves. As a result of liquidity problems, Hamish’s expertise was sought by his former company’s new directors.
Perentie’s British Chairman’s bullish approach to Indonesian investments had attracted representatives from all levels of Jakarta’s business community through the company’s doors. The chief executive of the Cendrawasih Taxi company was no exception. Once it had been revealed that this organization was, in fact, a subsidiary operation belonging to Nuri Suhapto, the Indonesian President’s oldest daughter, Perentie’s directors did not hesitate. They plunged in wildly, committing two hundred million dollars to finance the proposed fleet expansion for what they expected would become, another First Family monopoly.
Press announcements revealing that the deal had been consummated brought accolades from afar, and suddenly, within capital investment markets, Perentie Limited seemed incapable of error, resulting in a flood of new capital flowing into his company’s coffers. Then, with pressure exerted on the local currency, it became apparent that Perentie might have been overly bullish in Indonesia, causing the new directors to become concerned with the extent of their investment exposure. They retained Hamish McLoughlin to visit Jakarta, and advise what steps might be taken to reduce the company’s risk.
The wavering Rupiah was not the only inducement which had encouraged the financier to visit Jakarta. He sensed the imminent chaos collapsing money markets would surely bring. Concerned with the liquidity of Cendrawasih Taxis and Perentie’s two hundred million capital, he suspected that it would not require more than a few hours to determine whether the loans had been utilized as undertaken by the company’s board or, as he suspected, a portion simply removed by the major shareholder to be squirreled away somewhere in one of her Swiss bank accounts.
* * * *
Hamish could feel the warming, comforting effects of the whisky working, now somewhat less concerned that his friend was this late. Hamish looked around the pub, observing how it had filled almost beyond capacity, as staff hurried cocktails to tables while the bartender worked furiously to fill orders. The CNN broadcast had been displaced by a band, the noise level within O’Reiley’s now reducing conversation to inaudible levels.
A group of young expatriates, obviously out for a good time laughed loudly, attracting his attention. He looked over in their direction, and was immediately stung by envy. The young men were accompanied by beautiful Indonesian girls, whose stunning features and elegance were difficult to ignore. Someone yelled out, drunkenly, turning heads in his direction as a roar of laughter followed. Hamish returned to his drink, in quiet deliberation. Then, from nowhere, there was a rain of cashew nuts as two well-dressed groups of young, foreign businessmen flung missiles at each other, as they might do back home.
For a while, there was some semblance of order as the boisterous crowd calmed down, now preoccupied with replenishing their drinks with the overly-generous serves of alcohol staff hurried to their tables. Someone else shouted from a dark corner, and this was greeted immediately by catcalls and boisterous behavior. Hamish let his eyes roam around the bar, observing the near-inebriated bunch, wishing he too could put Indonesia’s ills behind, once the office doors were closed.
Few of those present would have any real understanding of what was happening, he knew. Fewer still would care, for the life of an expatriate was, in many cases, a generous, ego-satisfying journey through what some considered to be a subservient culture, justifiably relegated to their lesser position in the economic order of things and destined, deservedly, to fail without their generous expertise. Hamish despised
