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Bakrie is one of the big players in the politic of Indonesia. It makes sense for him to try to control the (maybe 2nd) most used social media platform in Indo. He probably expects to have the same influence as what Obama 2008 digital campaign team had.

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Being an investor for Path (and potentially have some say to their roadmap) is not the same with Obama 2008 digital campaign team. I doubt Abu Bakrie can utilize Path (since it's a close/private social network) the way Obama team did with social media back then and most recently.

This is Bakrie VC group, not Bakrie himself. More like his sons/daughters (second generation) using Bakrie's wealth, not him.

This is more like "my cars are better than yours" among the rich in Jakarta. Follow the startup scene there and you'll realize a pattern.

The richest family in Indonesia not too long ago bought kaskus.co.id (one of the most trafficked website in Indonesia) for $60M (rumour) and I'm almost sure the ROI is Mission Impossible (^_^).

It's more "I've got lots of money, gotta spend some somewhere...".

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