17 Facts About Bob Hasan

Mohamad "Bob" Hasan was an Indonesian businessman, who served briefly as trade and industry minister in 1998 and was later jailed for corruption.

Bob Hasan was one of the most prominent ethnic Chinese cronies of long-serving Indonesian president Suharto and was nicknamed "the plywood king" because of his forestry businesses.

Bob Hasan was the founder and editor of the Indonesian magazine Gatra.

Bob Hasan was Chairman of the Indonesian Wood Panel Association.

Under Bob Hasan, Apkindo was given complete control of plywood pricing, marketing, and exports.

Bob Hasan personally profited from his chairmanship both by supporting business he owned and through control of the fees paid to the organization by other members.

Bob Hasan became the mediator in business disputes between Suharto's six children, after the death of Suharto's wife in 1996.

Bob Hasan orchestrated a deal to resolve a shareholder dispute surrounding the Busang gold deposit found by Bre-X Minerals in Kalimantan before the gold find was exposed as a hoax.

Bob Hasan's appointment was viewed as evidence that Suharto was not serious about making substantial fiscal changes to overcome the Asian financial crisis that had begun in mid-1997.

Bob Hasan lost his cabinet post when Suharto quit on 21 May 1998 following mass protests and riots.

Bob Hasan was frequently the subject of corruption allegations because of his business dealings and control of much of Indonesian industry.

Bob Hasan was fined 50 billion rupiah as a result of a lawsuit filed by several youth organizations, alleging he had ordered the burning of forests in Sumatra.

Bob Hasan was imprisoned at Cipinang prison and then at the less accessible Nusa Kambangan Island penitentiary off the coast of south-central Java, until his release on parole in February 2004.

Bob Hasan was the first and among the most prominent of Suharto's associates convicted of fraud and corruption.

Bob Hasan was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 1994 to 2004, when the IOC expelled him due to his corruption conviction.

The IOC was criticized by the Indonesian government in 2000 for arguing that Bob Hasan should be allowed to attend the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, despite his being under arrest at the time.

On 31 March 2020, Bob Hasan died at the age of 89 from lung cancer at Gatot Subroto Army Hospital in Central Jakarta.