Sugar, bean products, wheat and rice powder supplied by FKS Food Sejahtera can be found in the kitchen of almost every household in Indonesia, a country of one thousand islands and with a population of 270 million. The Group was founded by Qiu Changren, a Hakka whose ancestral home is Mei County, Guangdong Province.

Qiu Changren, also named Edy Kusuma in Indonesian, whose ancestral home is Daping Town, Mei County, Guangdong Province, was born in 1951 in Tanjungkarang, capital of Lampung Province in Indonesia.

Like all keen-witted and down-to-earth overseas Chinese, Qiu Changren started his career as an apprentice in a local produce company and has worked hard to become a leading figure in Indonesian food industry. Qiu Changren was invited to assume leadership of Indonesia Hakka Association in 2010, and was elected general chairman of Indonesia Dragon and Lion Dance Federation in 2020.

Start from scratch in a shop by the Hongxi River

The Java Island in Indonesia has long been the country’s most developed region in economic, political and cultural spheres. Many big Chinese bosses in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia are descendants of merchant families from the Java Region. Many of them were born in the purple, and have inherited their family business and later outdone their fathers. Chinese magnates from outside the island were mostly born in poor families, had to start bare-handed, worked hard to seek a livelihood at the bottom of society and finally turned the tide by virtue of their exceptional courage, insight and determined will.

Qiu Changren apparently fell into the second category. He was born in Lampung, Sumatra Island. His father used to live on selling cooked pork and beef balls in a bazaar's stall, while his mother was a housewife. Qiu Changren ranked fifth among the ten children of the family.

Qiu Changren and his siblings spent their childhood in a house built with wooden boards, iron sheets and bamboo fences. Not until the eve of Dragon Boat Festival in 1969 that Qiu Changren, then aged 18, and his second oldest brother Qiu Jiangren took a long-distance bus, later went to Peacock Port in the Java Region by ferry and started a wandering life in Jakarta. From then on, he started taking an apprenticeship in the company of his third uncle on his mother’s side.

“Given my young age, my third uncle asked me to work in his company. As a traditional senior, he told me in my apprenticeship to get up at dawn, sweep the courtyard, work diligently and learn how to be observant.” Qiu Changren said that he worked running errands in his uncle’s local produce company.

“Although I just started working to earn a living and obtained a meagre payment, I have learned a lot as it was a job opportunity. Therefore, I am always grateful for my uncle.” Qiu Changren recalled the experience when he was a green hand.

“At that time, I learned a lot by working. In my spare time, I even went to a cram class in Jakarta business school. I also did a lot of reading when time permitted. I have been in the good graces of my employers probably because I am keen-witted and a quick learner.”

Furthermore, Qiu Changren often went to banks with cheques, and maintained contacts with hundreds of local produce shopkeepers in the morning bazaar nearby Xiaonanmen (Little South Gate). It was in this period that Qiu Changren accumulated a wealth of experience and human connections.

Five years later, the smart and diligent-working errand boy had thoroughly learned by heart every part of the local produce business and gotten to know the ropes when it came to money making. Working for others means he had to be subservient to others and live dependent on the whims of others. Such a life was absolutely not what he always wanted to pursue.

His father often told him and his brothers a saying in the Hakka region that inheritance of ancestral property doesn’t guarantee wealth, only entrepreneurship leads to lasting prosperity. “Ironically, there was no ancestral property to inherit. Therefore, we asked ourself why not start our own business at the time of youth.” Qiu Changren smiled and said. He and his brother decided to open a shop to sell retail and wholesale local produce and groceries. Qiu Changren and his three brothers all contributed a small amount of money and bought the ownership of a very small and shabby shop at an entrance of a lane across a street by Hongxi River.

Qiu Jiangren, his second oldest brother, took charge of dealings in the shop. Qiu Changren busied himself with his uncle’s company business and didn’t deal with specific affairs although he managed to keep an eye on the shop’s business. Despite his young age, he was farsighted. He had no stomach for making sales statistics and collecting payments, but took advantage of his interpersonal connections to solicit clients and secure bulk orders. Qiu Guoren, his oldest brother and Qiu Guanren, the third oldest brother, helped their younger brother in Jakarta purchase supplies in Lampung.

Thanks to its favorable position, the shop had brisk business as soon as it opened. The unforgettable green days by the Hongxi River kicked off business careers of Qiu Changren and his older brothers.

“Brothers” company manages to gain a foothold

The neighborhood from Xiaonanmen to the morning bazaar in the Chinese town in the ancient urban area of Jakarta embraced the most flourishing period of commerce and trade in the 1960-1970s. As soon as the bazaar opened, boats came and went, a riot of sound was heard, numerous merchants and tradesmen flocked to the market to sell cloth, local produce or snacks. The morning bazaar emerged as a locally known local produce sales center, and its adjacent Hongxi Road also enjoyed brisk local produce business.

Because the brothers of Qiu Family worked hard in solidarity and their locally produced items were good in quality and competitive in prices, the shop had an increasing number of customers. Very soon, the wooden shop gave way to a nearly 200 square meters-big shop they bought on the adjacent street.

The shop soon proved to be not spacious enough because of a constant surge in business, so Qiu Changren bought another shop on the same street. In view of booming business, Qiu Changren and his older brothers rode on the momentum and co-founded a local produce company named Sodala (Brothers) Company in the mid-1970s.

Sodala (Brothers) Company initially dealed in local produce such as cassava, corn, beans, soybean and rice which are ordinary commodities and low in value. As the feed industry later boomed, they pivoted towards exports of valuable items such as coffee and pepper. Qiu Changren said, “Whenever I set up a target, it should be fulfilled with additional efforts. I always ask myself if other can succeed, why cannot I?” Guided by the belief, the company co-founded by brothers has increasingly flourished.

As far as Qiu Changren is concerned, opportunities are within sight on many occasions but wealth lies in the distance. To sustain business growth, it is never acceptable to stay satisfied. We cannot stay where we are. Instead, we need to keep marching upwards.

In the course of entrepreneurship by the brothers, Qiu Changren had slowly switched his role from a vanguard to a decision maker. As the company opened up branches across the country, a network of supply and sales spanning more than half of Indonesia was soon established.

They moved forward step by step and at an increasingly rapid pace. By the mid-1980s, the company co-founded by brothers had stood out from the crowd, branched into subsidies specializing in different business segments and gained a foothold in Indonesian local produce imports and exports where strong market players abound.

Emerge stronger from the financial crisis

The Asian financial crisis, which broke out in 1997, swept Thailand in the first instance and later spread to South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia. Workers lost their jobs and the economy slumped in its aftermath. Indonesian rupiah witnessed a steep fall in its value and had depreciated against the US dollar by one sevenths next February compared with the initial rates. Bank runs occurred, prices skyrocketed and the country was mired in a political turmoil. To make it worse, the world-stunning exclusion of Chinese-Indonesians erupted in May of that year.

Foreign trade-oriented companies took the hardest hit. As a result, a lot of debt-laden firms had gone bankrupt. FKS Food Group specializing in local produce imports and exports barely weathered the crisis.

At the critical moment, Qiu Changren racked his brain, tried every means of solution and worked hard in unison with his brothers to make the company break even. Many banks stayed confident at the company  due to its favorable business reputation built up for years and stretched out their helping hands to help it weather the crisis. Ultimately, FKS struggled to survive and continued business operation.

In coming into contact with the immediate present, the company co-founded by the brothers wasn’t beaten down by the financial storm but continues to exist despite hardships. Therefore, it can be said to be a miracle compared with its peers.

How did his company manage to emerge from the financial crisis? Qiu Changren often went abroad for business purposes, made himself acquainted with some famous veterans in business circles in Singapore, and took advice and assistance from them. He also went to Japan, Europe, South America and North America to visit farms and investigate on agricultural commodity trading and came to realize the crux of modern imports and exports that international trade is being hallmarked by the formation and development of regional trading blocs. Doing international trade resembles navigating the sea. It is impossible to travel far on a small boat. It is necessary to develop an aircraft carrier to withstand storms and waves.

As the Company’s transnational trade burgeoned, Qiu Changren came into contact with clients from Europe and America in a continuous stream. His acquaintance with a rising number of famous figures in political and business circles has foreshadowed its ability to weather risks and ultra-conventional development.

After going through the test of the financial crisis, the company of Qiu Family has emerged strong and fit from the crisis by pursuing changes and availing itself of historic opportunities amid the crisis. His company seized the moment to apply from the government for licenses of processing imports of such commodities as raw sugar, beans, corn and wheat. As a result, it managed to obtain quotas and permits on dealing in related agricultural commodities.

In this way, the business of Qiu Family has seen leapfrog development and started to enter an unprecedented stage of development.

In 2003, the group of business founded by him was renamed as Tiga Pilar Sejahtera Food and secured listing with the involvement of various parties. It was later re-branded in 2021 as FKS Food Sejahtera, a name used till now.

Following the business model “from farms to tables”, the Group now serves more than 2,800 clients in over 20 countries and regions on five continents and specializes in bulk commodity trading, logistics, sales and food processing.

FKS Group has located two large-scale sugar refineries, three flour mills, and bean and corn processing facilities in Cikarang in West Java, Surabaya in East Java, Kota Makassar in Sulawesi Selatan and the industrial district of Medan in North Sumatra.

All day and night, FKS Group transports a continuous stream of millions of tons of well-processed agricultural products to more than 10,000 supermarkets or outlets in 159 cities across Indonesia. Furthermore, the Group has acquired bean and sugar cane planting bases in the USA and Brazil, and established offices in more than ten countries and regions.

Dragon and lion dance draws an increasing number of Chinese-Indonesians

Qiu Chengyi, the son of Qiu Changren, who has studied before in the USA and undergone training, now serves as the Company’s CEO. Qiu Changren has loosened his grip and delegated business operations to his son so that he can free himself from routine matters to plan for macro-strategies of significance on the one hand and engage in the organization and operation of related associations on the other hand.

As the general chairman of Indonesia Dragon and Lion Dance Federation, he runs around trying to promote dragon and lion dance in Indonesia. He hopes that the sport will find favor with a rising number of Chinese-Indonesians. “Let’s draw more and more people to engage in dragon and lion dance, and work together to carry forward this fine traditional Chinese culture in Indonesia.”

When he was a kid, Qiu Changren often saw lion dance performances on streets sponsored by overseas Chinese associations , and was very impressed. In his opinion, dragon and lion dance is innately appealing. Indonesian people come over and see dragon and lion dance performances as soon as they hear gong and drum sound.

Nowadays, there are not fewer than 500 dragon and lion dance troupes and training institutions across the country, more than 300 of which from 27 provinces have joined the Indonesia Dragon and Lion Dance Federation, with more than 2,000 individual registered members. Dragon and lion dance troupes in Indonesia frequently go abroad to attend international contests.

“We feel inspired to see the phenomenon. Because all Indonesian people know that dragon and lion dance has originated in China, participation and engagement in the sport is thought to be the most direct way for them to develop a liking for Chinese culture.” In the opinion of Qiu Changren, dragon and lion dance in Indonesia is by no means an ordinary folk recreation, but greatly facilitates cultural ties and deepens friendship between Indonesia and China.

This year marks the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese lunar calendar, so the Indonesia Dragon and Lion Dance Federation has decided to host the “President Cup” International Lion Dance Competition and the “Defense Minister Cup” Dragon Dance Championship (Dragon dance is a compulsory training course in national troops of Indonesia, so the majority of contestants are from Indonesian troops. The move has helped troops better identify with Chinese culture and is conducive to the long-term peace and stability among Chinese-Indonesians). The Indonesian Ministry of Youth and Sports will also hold within the year a national sports meeting, in which dragon and lion dance, including North lion, ranks among gold medal items.

The greatest wish of Qiu Chnagren, a successful Hakaa and Chinese-Indonesian businessman born and brought up abroad, is to take advantage of Chinese dragon and lion dance in Indonesia, a tropical country, to facilitate people-to-people exchanges and to promote win-win cooperation between countries.

Ding Jian and Li Zhiquan