Special police escort for convict Bob Hasan

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In Indonesia, money talks; even in jail. Former timber magnate Muhammad "Bob" Hasan, a convicted felon, retains his rights to all the privileges the state has to offer, including special police attention.

While common, though law-abiding, citizens have to share one policeman among 2,000 people, Muhammad "Bob" Hasan has been granted seven police escorts to accompany him out of Nusakambangan Penitentiary in Central Java for a monthly medical check-up in Jakarta.

The golfing buddy of former president Soeharto, Bob has kept the Cilacap police busy in the past two years as he has left the prison frequently to go to the hospital and other places.

It is questionable that similar treatment is provided to armed robbers, that is, a seven-member police escort.

However, such special treatment was defended by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra as a common procedure that could be applied to other criminals.

"Every convicted felon has the right to receive medical treatment, because we cannot provide specialist doctors for the prisoners," he said on Friday.

"For example, should one prisoner need to go to a dentist, we have to escort the person out, because we cannot provide dental treatment at the penitentiary," the minister said.

The minister said that Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta also followed such practices and therefore, there was nothing special in the treatment accorded to Bob Hasan.

The Cilacap police office that oversees the penitentiary cannot refuse the request to escort Bob out of prison, despite their other policing duties.

Bob was sentenced to six years in prison by a Jakarta district court for his involvement in a major forestry graft case. His prison term was then extended to six years by the Jakarta High Court in 2000.

He is the only close associate of Soeharto to have been convicted.

The tycoon was transferred in early 2001 by then-president Abdurrahman Wahid to Batu Prison in Nusakambangan, where Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, sentenced to 15 years for murder, joined Bob earlier this year.

The Nusakambangan Penitentiary, established initially to house highly dangerous criminals, is now home to high-profile criminals such as Bob and Tommy.

People have expressed their suspicions that both Bob and Tommy may be receiving special privileges from the State during their prison terms, easily concealed because Nusakambangan is located far from Jakarta and public view.

Yusril brushed aside the suspicions, maintaining that everything was conducted by the book and that it would be wrong for prison officials to restrict felons from receiving medical treatment.

"People will also blame me if Bob dies in Nusakambangan because of his illness, so there's nothing wrong with his treatment," he said.