Abdurrahman ‘Gus Dur’ Wahid passed away at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Central Jakarta. The former president and chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama will be accorded a state funeral in his hometown of Jombang, East Java, which will be led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hiikmal)
Although a scion of a respected East Java family of Islamic ulemas and educators, Abdurrahman Wahid forged his name as an ardent proponent of religious tolerance and moderate politics. His commitment to those causes remained strong throughout his life, earning him recognition both at home and abroad.
He was the eldest grandchild of Hasyim Asy’ari, founder of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which later became the country’s largest Islamic movement. Wahid, popularly known as “Gus Dur,” joined the organization, albeit reluctantly, in the early 1980s as a member of its Religious Advisory Council.
He gradually rose within the ranks and in 1984 he was elected as chairman of the NU, a position that he skillfully managed to keep, despite the disapproval of autocratic President Suharto, for 15 years. Despite leading a conservative religious organization, Wahid consistently maintained that faith was a personal matter, a stance which drew criticism from Islamic circles but earned him the respect of non-Muslims across the archipelago.
When the Asian financial crisis began to hit in mid-1997 and gradually eroded Suharto’s political control, Wahid allied himself with other prominent opposition figures, including Megawati Sukarnoputri and Amien Rais, who establish a reform movement.
He later approved the establishment of the National Awakening Party (PKB) in 1998 to accommodate NU’s political aspirations. In February 1999, the PKB nominated him as its presidential candidate and by that October he had wheeled and dealed enough to be elected as the country’s fourth president by the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) despite being almost totally blind and needing assistance to get around.
Wahid’s first moves as president included abolishing the Ministry of Information, which had long been Suharto’s tool to control the media, and the notoriously corrupt Ministry of Welfare. Although he failed in his peace gambits in restive Aceh and Papua, he was credited with making the first approaches to settle the separatist conflicts through negotiation.
As president, Wahid will also be remembered for declaring Chinese New Year an optional public holiday in January 2001. The following month, he lifted Suharto’s three-decade ban on the display of Chinese characters and culture.
But his liberal ideas and sometimes erratic public statements left him never far from controversy. His suggestion in 2000 that a 34-year ban on Marxism-Leninism be lifted met with strong opposition, as did his suggestion that Aceh be granted an East Timor-style independence referendum.
His conciliatory stance with Israel, with which Indonesia has no diplomatic relations, brought him the scorn of many Muslims, and his open disdain for members of the House, whom he once likened to kindergarten children, earned him their undying hostility.
They would eventually have their revenge by rebuking him in February and April 2001, enabling the MPR to impeach him in late July of that year. His desperate bid during those dark days to cling to power by declaring a state of emergency was ignored by his top ministers, and remains the only blotch on his image.
He is survived by his wife Sinta Nuriyah and their four daughters.
Thousands of mourners turning out to honor Gus Dur as his funeral procession passes a mosque in Jombang, East Java. (AFP Photo / Mochammad Risyal Hidayat)
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