History
Ong Hok Liong (born 12 August 1893)[3] initially worked in his father's tobacco trading company in Bojonegoro, East Java. However, his gambling habits prompted his wife to move the family, first to Sumberwaras and later to Malang. In 1920, Ong started a kretek company with his brothers, funding his share by pawning his wife's jewelry. Although he introduced numerous brands, most of them failed.
In 1935, while developing a new brand called Djeruk Manis (Sweet Orange), Ong visited the sacred Gunung Kawi mountain and had a dream about a bentoel (cassava root) vendor. Inspired by the dream, he renamed the brand Bentoel, which became a success. By 1950, Ong employed around 3,000 workers and acquired a cigarette factory in Blitar.[4]
Due to heavy smoking and drinking arak (rice alcohol) to ease the throat pain, Ong died in 1967 from chronic liver disease.[5] In 1968, labor problems led Bentoel to pioneer the use of fully automated rolling machines, a first in the kretek industry.[4]
By the late 1970s, Bentoel was ranked third in Indonesian cigarette production and dominated the machine-made kretek sector. However, in 1979, a government decree restricted the production of machine-made kretek, which negatively impacted the company's performance.
Although Bentoel received significant foreign investment, its financial situation worsened. By the late 1990s, the company faced debts amounting to several hundred million dollars, leading to the resignation of its chief executive, one of Ong's sons.
In 1987, Rajawali Corpora acquired a majority stake in the company and replaced its management and directors.[4] In June 2009, British American Tobacco (BAT) purchased an 85% stake in PT Bentoel Internasional Investama for $494 million and acquired the remaining public shares by the end of August 2009.[6]
