Loved this old take, in 2005, on PTSW, which was at the time in the throes of crisis (crisis no more, PTSW no more):
'How is this for a scenario?
Some people had a nifty downtown Jakarta skyscraper property, well built of attractive materials. It had gold-standard tenants, a fantastically good building management setup, and charged top rental rates. In short, it was a swell piece of real estate and a nice moneymaker.
Then a few people with highly overactive minds (counter-Subud in itself) decided to leverage the property into a kind of little Enron. In so doing, they badly overreached themselves, and were brought down by unhelpful currency fluctuations. Now, instead of manfully facing the consequences, they're thrashing around and behaving in an unjust manner.
It's easy to think that *cor justi est paradisus* (the mind of a just man is paradise) is just a form of words, but I rather think that it's quite true and that so is its opposite. The situation has been spreading mind hell for quite a long time.
It looks to me like a banal reverse such as businesspeople undergo all the time, with no particular spiritual significance.
For Subud there may be another dimension.
Some of the people involved hold themselves up and are held up as spiritual leaders as well as leaders on the finance side. Ibu Rahayu, like her father, claims to be guided by God when she speaks, and it would appear that many decisions in the long history of PTSW have been based on the process known as Testing (God knows better than you do).
If any luminaries have misrepresented themselves and have behaved unwisely, and if Subud's method of divination has proved unreliable, isn't it well to give these matters a long, calm look? We don't have to remain always on the horizontal circular ladder to nowhere.
"Cast a cold eye On life, on death. Horseman, pass by!"
Beautifully written Luthfi. Sounds like there is truth in this , though I expect another aspect of it we don't know lies somewhere........ maybe........hopefully....... Big business.... you should see how I manage my accounts and never break even on my artwork! But when it comes to big business there always seems to be a worm in the rose somewhere. Anyone know how the Quakers fared? If I remember they had a good track record and then had to sell out to big business. I don't know of any skeletons in their cupboard, though I suppose there were one or two. What is happening in the larger world picture I feel a shudder throughout my whole self coming upon me!
I think the 1998 crisis that began in Thailand and spread throughout SE Asia did in a lot of highly leveraged businesses and not just PTSW. Having said that, why was PTSW so highly leveraged? Was it more leveraged than similar businesses in Jakarta at the time? Did the PTSW Board know what they were doing? How did they explain what hapened to the shareholders? After the multiple failures of the bank and Anugraha, was there any thought that leverage was to be avoided or kept to a minimum? It is easy to criticize things in hindsight, but surely PTSW's status as the flagship Subud enterprise means some account of what happened has been published? Can anyone point to where to find this?
Minor shareholders, unless organized with a single purpose, have no power to change, alter, argue any decisions of the majority. Because, if one shareholder makes a ruckus, they are simply ignored into submission, or oblivion. This is especially true when important meetings are scheduled in such a way as to physically prevent anyone other than the top few to attend.
But, I must say that I am somewhat prejudiced against the corporate model as it has been practiced for the last couple hundred years... Plainly speaking, it is always top heavy in practice, hardly every lending any credence to the general welfare of the population. It is a true monster dressed as an innocent bride. But when the honeymoon is over, it shows it's real face under that vale of deceit.
I'm sorry Farlan but I disagree. Shareholders have an obligation to themselves to be informed and they have an obligation to make a fuss if they don't like what is being done. They have to self-organize. This is particularly easy within a Subud community because unlike the general public, who don't know one another, we do. The money was raised communally and it could have been dealt with communally.
Fair point Michael, all investors are and have been responsible for their involvement in enterprises - and their attitude of "It's all up to the directors - we can go back to sleep" meant that they failed in their responsibility and cannot complain of their losses.
I guess that this understanding is now rather engrained so that it is almost impossible for such disasters to happen again - the promoters in the future will (I hope) no longer be foolish enough to promote an enterprise idea in the old way of "Trust us - we know what we're doing - just give us your money".
I haven't yet seen a "Subud community". This contraption does not yet exist, as far as I have known. We don't think alike, and don't do things together much. I am hopeful of someday being part of something like this, but it has not yet materialized, and taken on a recognizable human face, IMHO.
Haddrian....
"the promoters in the future will (I hope) no longer be foolish enough to promote an enterprise idea in the old way of "Trust us - we know what we're doing - just give us your money"."
So true, and that is because we have never developed any real trust. Trust that starts small, and builds upon it's self. We can never expect most members to be skilled in investment schemes, high finance, and modern economics. Trust in material affairs is built by example, and tract record, not by faith.
But, even now there are members asking for money (donations).... desperately seeking material help for their projects that are still only imagined, or theoretical.
Believe it or not, Subud Britain have now dreamed up the idea of a new enterprise project, and are pumping members for money even before they (both Subud Britain and its members) know what the project IS exactly.
Moreover, who should be one of the chief honchos for the project? None other than Conrad Aldridge, your smiling, friendly entrepeneur-at-large, prominent in a string of notorious, failed Sub Ents.
Back in the 1970's I was privy to future use of land in the Sonoma, California town of Boyes Hot Springs. (soil test had proved the area to be choice, and ripe for grapes) And, I had been close to the remaining family members who once owned that resort, which had long since been closed, and broken down. The tax people were about to liquidate everything, but I had been given first choice to purchase the whole lot for US45,000 dollars. I knew what was coming up with the new wine-grape venture capitalist rush at that time, and I was 100% certain that we could have turned this around within a few years for millions. Well, the org, and some very wealthy members turned me down.... without even looking into the matter. Now, this area produces some the highest price wine in the US. And land, of any size there is at premium height, and is traded like gold.
I also had the good luck to discover opportunities for US agricultural testing science working in Indonesia, because I had met and became chums with the #1 procurement General in the Government (Logistik). He liked my attitude, and gave me Gov. pass to existing projects, none of which were US. I made great efforts back in US to involve Subud to take up this near sure thing. This was not private enterprise... it would have been a Cart Blanc, open Grant, directly from the highest money-man in the country. I was summarily ignored.
I was introduce to this man by another Subud brother, who thought I was some computer science pro, just because I was living in Silicon Valley near Stanford, and knew a top-rated Subud brother who worked for US Gov. Aerospace firms.
We took the elevator up to the top floor, and awaited the call for our "five minute visit" with #1.
After my Subud brother talked endlessly about my qualifications (in bahasa mosty)... The General turned to me, and in English, said: Mr. Farlan.... what do you think. I told him the truth, that I had no credentials to speak of and that I was a small contractor who had no knowledge of rice drying techniques, or any instruments to do this thing.
He laugh, and laugh... And ask me if I would at least help him find some US rep who could bring the US advanced ideas to his country... and If I would like he would give us a chance to survey the existing situation up in Bakasi, where there was a great need to help the rice farmers dry their rice during rainy season which kills 50 % of crop. They knew that careful testing was the way, and results to date were not going well. I somehow knew he was sincere, because when we left the building with a piece of paper with his signature on it and his seal.... we could go anywhere in the country, without ever being hindered...... It was a real, fantastic, and rare thing, so I was told... to be given a pass like this, because it would pass muster anywhere in the country, and no local authority would ever question it's authenticity, and every gate opened for us when we traveled.
About 15 years ago, I received a letter from a top man in the Malaysian Government asking me to broker scrap shipments metal from US to Malaysia. He said that I was recommended by a relative of his.... He then said that they usually purchased by the #train-car loads, and would pay for all expenses, plus X %. I tried to find Subud members with this expertise, but no one would even listed to me, except to tell me to do it myself, which I had no skills, and did not know anything about brokering metals, or shipping. I did try to do it, but had not the funds to even meet with anyone, or make calls... Malaysia... Rich and rising.....
Hi Luthfi, Yes, I am vaguely aware of this new idea but I think, as our group doesn't have a secretary at the moment we (as members) haven't heard anything about it. Do you know where I can get more info or find out about it?
Conrad must be Tigger reincarnated. Loveable, eternal optimist and relaxed communicator. One of the few Subbers who has sufficient vision and courage to co-ordinate an ambitious project. Past failure does make me wary, but if his skills were balanced by complementary others (especially in setting modest, realistic goals and budgets) I wouldn't hold the past against him. I prefer to see unsuccessful endeavours than no effort at all.
Most of us seem to have subsided (partly due to advanced age) into passivity, while a few still cling to grandiose dreams and concoct Big Projects.
Some time ago Lucy Houbart (Loudwater) wrote to me that she thought Subud would gain more if we focussed on smaller and more local projects. Looking at our past I've come round to the same view. The Middle Way (please)