Jakarta, IO – Everybody who is anybody is familiar with Aman Resorts, the chain of hotels and inns spanning 20 countries. Its current CEO maybe Russian Vladislav Doronin, but it was actually established by Indonesian Adrian Willem Lauw Zecha back in the day.
Born in Sukabumi in 1933 into the Lauw-Sim-Zecha Chinese-Czech clan, Adrian was the great grandson of Louisa Zecha, an Indo-European lady, from her first marriage to Lauw Tek Lok, Luitenant der Chinezen (“Chinese Lieutenant”) from Bekasi.
The clan has many stellar members: Adrian’s father, Aristide William Lauw-Zecha, was the first Indonesian who graduated from Iowa University, US, in 1923, while his uncle, Chester Sim-Zecha, was a respectable colonial politician who served as a member of the Netherland Indies’ Volksraad (People’s Council). A maternal cousin, Che Engku Chesterina (née Sim-Zecha), is a member of Malaysian nobility by marriage. Other relatives in the Sim-Lauw-Zecha clan also held high offices in Indonesia and Malaysia during, Colonial Era, providing Adrian with a life of ease and privilege.
The Zecha family’s privilege allowed them to gain a high level of education.
Segregated America
Adrian and his four brothers all graduated from American universities; he himself got a degree from Tufts University in Massachusetts in the 1950’s. Right after college, 23-year-old Adrian worked for the legendary Time magazine in New York.
Power and money can only hold on so much: in 1956, President Soekarno nationalized large companies, to gain finances to operate the State. In fear for their lives, multiple members of the Lauw-Sim-Zecha clan escaped across the sea.
In 1961, Adrian launched Asia Magazine, the first color-print regional publication of its type in Asia. When the magazine encountered problems a year later, he succeeded in persuading Rupert Murdoch to make his first investment in Asia by buying into the magazine: it became part of the Murdoch family of English-language publications in Asia, until it closed down in 1998. In 1970, Adrian founded Orientation magazine, a new publication focusing on travel and lifestyle in Hong Kong. Perceiving the expansion of the international tourism industry and leisure opportunities, Orientation became the number one magazine provided to airline passengers, as it contained excellent content that allows people to know more about destinations in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Himalayas.