! Two (of many) ways to make this code work are indicated
! below.  Both work individually.

program sample
  implicit none
  integer*8 :: object_holder
  ! it works if you comment out the line above this one and uncomment the line below
  ! integer*8 :: object_holder = 0

  call object_holder_init(object_holder)
  call set_vals(object_holder)
  call print_vals(object_holder)
end program sample

subroutine object_holder_init(oh)
  implicit none
  integer*8, intent(inout) :: oh

  oh = malloc(3*8)
end subroutine object_holder_init

subroutine set_vals(oh)
  implicit none
  integer*8, intent(inout):: oh
  integer*8 :: obj(3)
  pointer(pobj, obj)

  pobj = oh

  obj(1) = 900
  obj(2) = 800
  obj(3) = 700

  !uncomment the folloing line and everything works
  !print *,"Values in set_vals   :", obj(1:3) 
end subroutine set_vals

subroutine print_vals(oh)
  implicit none
  integer*8, intent(inout) :: oh
  integer*8 :: obj(3)
  pointer(pobj, obj)

  pobj = oh
  print *,"Values in print_vals :", obj(1:3)
  
  call free(oh)
end subroutine print_vals