Don't expect power to sap Hasan's brashness
By Devi M. Asmarani
JAKARTA (JP): When he accepted the immense task of becoming the new industry and trade minister, Mohamad (Bob) Hasan subjected himself to fresh brouhaha on top of his already controversial persona.
Known then as a timber tycoon, one of the richest Indonesians and a golf and fishing pal of President Soeharto, Bob was brought back into the spotlight when his name appeared among those in the new cabinet lineup.
Even before the March 14 announcement, intellectuals and analysts had widely warned the public that Bob's rumored appointment would be an obvious sign of deeply rooted cronyism in the country's system.
"It will be useless if the new cabinet is filled with cronies like Bob Hasan...," a hard-core government critic, economist Hartojo Wignjowijoto, said prior to the announcement. He reiterated the same comment days later when the gossip was substantiated.
But it would be unlike the garish Bob if such comments affected him in the slightest.
"It's a free country, anyone can make their judgment," he told his first media briefing as a minister, referring to allegations that his appointment was merely due to his conspicuously close relationship with the President.
To Bob, the first ethnic Chinese appointed minister during Soeharto's 31 years of New Order, blunt criticism could be the very thing that strengthens him.
Foreign and local critics ranging from environmentalists, the international trade community, economists to the media have long been keeping track of his "sins", which include using nepotistic business facilities, monopolizing the forestry industry, and environmentally endangering the country's rain forests.
But Bob's own bluntness and fierce counter-attacking of his enemies have strengthened his bargaining power.
Known as a headstrong businessman, he actually breathes fresh air into the cabinet which usually consists of consensus-seeking officials.
A no-nonsense speaker, he is known to make flagrant remarks, wastes no time on public speeches and lacks the gracious and genteel tact of a high-ranking bureaucrat.
Some say Bob is the type who -- unlike most guidance-asking ministers -- goes for what he wants. He is a troubleshooter who has proved himself useful in problem solving.
Take a look at his vast business interests which include an empire of forestry-based business and a diverse charity group.
He is a founder and controller of two giant business groups, the Bob Hasan Group, or Pasopati Group, and the Nusamba Group. But his name has been linked to hundreds of companies from logging, wood-based, pulp and paper, mining, airline, chemical, telecommunications, plantation, media, insurance to finance interests.
Bob, who has been listed by the U.S. Forbes magazine as the world's 107th richest man, has proven to Soeharto that he could be of great use in getting a share of the pie on large projects for the President's various foundations.
The Nusamba Group, which he chairs, is a widely diversified investment vehicle for three charities headed by Soeharto.
The charities own 80 percent of Nusamba Group, while Bob and Soeharto's eldest son Sigit Hardjojudanto own the remaining 10 percent each.
The group businesses include the country's largest carmaker PT Astra International, several banks, mining concessions, and his dominant forestry holding, the Kalimanis Group.
Still, many avow that the camaraderie between Bob and the state leader has been the motor of his success all along.
The alliance to power goes way back to the Army days of the then Col. Soeharto, who Bob befriended while he was a supplier of miscellaneous goods to the Central Java Army post.
The friendship led to many triumphs in logging concessions after Soeharto came to power in 1967.
In 1980, Soeharto urged Hasan to set up the Association of Indonesian Wood Panel Producers (Apkindo) to revitalize the fledgling plywood industry. Apkindo has since been condemned as a plywood cartel by the international community.
The relationship, however, may just be a factor that will differentiate him from previous ministers in managing the country's ailing industries during the monetary turmoil, which has gnawed deeply into all sectors of the country's economy.
A business leader admits that Soeharto's affinity with Bob can be a plus for the crisis-hit industries.
"He has a power not possessed by other ministers: a close association with the President," the businessman, who asked for anonymity, told The Jakarta Post.
This "pushing power", he says, can speed up the process and cut through the usual bureaucratic chase.
"If this power is used positively, it could yield wonderful results."
Still, this does not stop many people from worrying that Bob's vast business interest will get in the way of objective policy- making judgment, and that he may abuse the power for his own business benefits.
Complex
Boastful, cocky and condescending, as he can appear sometimes, Bob is viewed by many who know him as a complex personality.
"He is a maverick, he has the ability to make the unthinkable happen," one journalist said.
Bob Hasan is a street-wise person, who sees everything as a challenge: "A man who can make lots of money but who doesn't know how to spend it."
Bob was born on Feb. 24, 1931 in Semarang, Central Java, bearing the Chinese name The Kian Seng. His family background remains a mystery to most people, like a missing piece of a puzzle.
Bob's path to success has not always been paved with gold.
Before he climbed his way up in the business world, he was a truck driver in Semarang. He was later adopted as a surrogate son by the late Gen. Gatot Subroto, one of the founders of the country's Armed Forces.
Unlike many of his business and bureaucrat colleagues, he does not carry any formal titles.
High school was the last formal education he completed, followed by some informal courses in business.
In the early 1950's, Bob made perhaps the smartest and most calculating decision: he converted to Islam.
He then married a Cirebon (West Java) native, Pratiwi Soemadi, and raised three adopted children.
Decades later, Bob is not only a stakeholder in hundreds of companies, he has also become a powerful figure in the forestry and wood-based industry.
His passion for sports, enables him to participate and head several sports organizations.
Bob has once said that he played golf with Soeharto three or four times a week and usually won.
His cavalierism is revealed in his preference to drive his own car even after he took up the ministerial post, although most people of his rank are driven around by their chauffeurs.
One of Bob's loyalist once told a group of reporters that it would take at least two to three months to be able to keep up with the pace he sets.
To reporters, Bob, who often shows off his press card while holding a media conference, has not always made a good impression.
On some occasions, Bob cunningly manages to sneak past a pack of lingering newshounds, with the help of his loyal assistants.
If an encounter with the media is unavoidable, he is not shy about make brash remarks, sometimes launching personal attacks on reporters, instead of remaining tightlipped as most of his equals would.