Rahul Jacob – At a press conference late last month following his takeover as chairman of carmaker Astra International, one of Indonesia's bluest of blue-chips, Mohamad "Bob" Hasan seemed completely in his element. By turns combative and charming, he even grabbed a camera from the crush of photographers and took a picture of the press. When reporters started to encroach upon the podium, Hasan, who is perhaps President Suharto's closest confidant, snapped that he would leave the press conference if they didn't back off.

At that raucous occasion, Hasan defended the recent deal he brokered to settle an unseemly battle that has raged since last fall over what could be the world's largest gold mine. Estimates of its contents have ranged from 57 million ounces, worth $20 billion, to as much as 200 million ounces. The contestants were President Suharto's two oldest children, daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, known as Tutut, and son Sigit Harjoyudanto. Each child partnered a Canadian mining company: tiny Bre-X Minerals for Sigit and giant Barrick Mining for Tutut. Hasan's deal last month gives Bre-X, which discovered the reserves in early 1996, a 45% share of the mine, but two Hasan-controlled companies will receive a combined 30% stake for which they pay nothing. A Jakarta businessman calls it "corporate robbery," but Hasan isn't flinching: "It's a very clear deal. There's no payment or nothing." Says a financial executive at an Indonesian conglomerate: "If Hasan wants something he gets it, but he always makes sure the First Family gets its share."

Hasan's confidence is understandable. In the past few months, he has graduated from the ranks of the elite businessmen who are close to the powers-that-be in countries like China, Malaysia and Indonesia to a prominence unmatched elsewhere in Asia. Hasan runs Nusamba group, the investment vehicle of three charitable foundations headed by President Suharto. Referred to by critics as Suharto's "retirement fund," Nusamba, which has assets estimated at $5 billion, seems to want a share of every large, long-term deal cut in Jakarta these days. "In any good business, we will move in," Hasan said at his February press conference. In November, Hasan beat another prominent Indonesian businessman in the race to control Astra. In December, he turned his attention to bringing Indonesia's gold rush to an orderly close. Since the death of the President's wife Tien in April, Hasan's influence has grown: he alone has been able to keep the peace among Suharto's six children, whose business rivalries have recently escalated. "He is playing a good uncle, mediating in this civil war," says Christiano Wibisono, who heads a Jakarta consultancy.

Hasan's rise to riches began when he forged close ties to the army not long after Indonesia won independence from the Dutch in 1945. The young colonels who took control of the provinces were given little or no money by the government and had to start side businesses to support their troops. In the web that quickly developed between entrepreneurs and generals, Hasan found himself at the center in the 1950s after General Gatot Subroto, an independence war hero, adopted him as a foster son. It was an extraordinary gesture: Hasan is ethnic Chinese and had started his working life as a driver in Central Java.

Subroto introduced Hasan to Suharto, who was then a colonel in charge of an elite unit in Jogjakarta, historic seat of the Javanese sultanate. "I have been friends with President Suharto for more than 40 years," Hasan says matter-of-factly. Like many long friendships, it has seen twists and turns. In the 1950s, the two were involved in a barter transaction for rice from Singapore in return for sugar from Java; the deal went sour. Suharto was stripped of his command and transferred to Jakarta. Hasan followed his mentor to the capital and waited for his star to rise, which it did after President Sukarno's ouster in 1965. Hasan also undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca and converted to Islam.

Providence has smiled on him ever since. On the recommendation of friends in the military, he was given a 10% stake in the local subsidiary of U.S.-based forestry giant Georgia-Pacific in 1972. That became the base camp for an assault on Indonesia's vast forests. He soon acquired the remaining 90% of the company and built a timber empire called Kalimanis Plywood Industries. In the 1980s, he founded Apkindo, a state-sanctioned cartel that controls Indonesia's plywood exports. In that role, he stood up to buyers elsewhere in Asia and cast himself as a fierce trustee of the country's resources. In an oft-repeated anecdote, Hasan boasted after golf with Suharto and visiting actor Sylvester Stallone, "I told Rambo, 'I am king of the jungle.'"

A well-preserved 66, Hasan today holds sway over not just Indonesia's rich forests but the presidential palace as well. He wields influence on behalf of Suharto, who appears to have grown weary of it. "He is more powerful than Liem [ethnic Chinese billionaire Liem Sioe Liong, whose association with Suharto also spans more than four decades] and the minister of forestry or minister of mining," says consultant Wibisono. That has never been more apparent than in the past few months.

After the battle between the Suharto siblings and their Canadian allies showed no signs of abating, Hasan gathered several of the parties at the President's cattle ranch and forged a compromise. The deal has the Hasan stamp: the appearance of ensuring that Indonesia's national interests are represented while cutting the First Family a slice. Nusamba, which is majority-owned by the President's charitable trusts and 10%-owned by eldest son Sigit, walked away with a 30% share of the reserves. As Jakarta sees it, Bre-X is also a winner because it comes away with a 45% share of the mine. But that is down from the 90% stake it originally claimed, prompting angry complaints from Canadian shareholders.

Meanwhile, some investors in Astra, Indonesia's leading auto assembler and distributor, have expressed concerns since Hasan took an 8% stake in the company in November. Analysts say that Theodore Rachmat, the well-regarded president-director of Astra, is already playing a diminishing role in the company.

The Busang episode may dim Indonesia's new-found luster as a destination for foreign capital. The government liberalized investment regulations in 1994 and last year attracted $5.4 billion in foreign direct investment, among the highest inflows in the developing world. This year's total should top $6 billion. Says Tim Condon, regional economist with Morgan Stanley: "The numbers suggest it remains a good place to invest, but if its reputation is too besmirched, it could have an impact on actual flows."

In Suharto's 32-year reign, his country of 200 million people has made extraordinary strides against poverty and illiteracy, though the admiration he has earned does not always rub off on his family. Says an Indonesian financial executive: "Purely out of self-interest, they should be giving more, not grabbing like the Marcoses did" in the Philippines. Trouble is, there is no one but Hasan to give the President that advice. Photos of Suharto from the years after he brought Indonesia back from the chaos of the 1960s show that he was attentive to his cabinet ministers in meetings. Now, he talks and they listen–and apparently always agree. Today, says a former minister, Suharto has lost interest in governing and only wants to secure his children's future. As steward of Suharto's legacy, Hasan faces his toughest job. – Reported by Michael Shari/Jakarta