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Sukanto Tanoto - The Early Years
Sukanto Tanoto was born in the Sumatran city of Medan on Christmas Day in 1949 to a migrant couple who hailed from Putien - China's Fujian province. The eldest of seven boys, Sukanto was named Chen Jianghe, after China's Yangtze (Chang Jiang) and Yellow (Huang He) rivers. In later years, Mr. Tanoto changed the last character of his Chinese name to mean 'peace' instead of 'river'.
Mr. Tanoto was educated in a Chinese school and never learnt Bahasa Indonesia formally (though he is now fluent in the language). The 17 year-old Sukanto Tanoto left school in 1966 to join his father, who was then running a three-man firm and supplying spare parts to oil and gas companies. Mr. Tanoto was left to helm the family business when his father passed away not long after.
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"'I was studying in a Chinese school. I wasn't allowed to go to a national school because my parents held Chinese citizenship. I was considered a foreigner. I never learnt Bahasa Indonesia formally."
- Mr. Tanoto on his first education in Indonesia.
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