Bond of friendship

Bond of friendship

The picture of President Megawati Soekarnoputri shaking hands
with former president Abdurrahman Wahid ran on the front page of
many national papers on July 26.

The meeting was the first since Abdurrahman was replaced by
Megawati one year ago. This meeting also took place without
either side saying anything out of courtesy for one another.

The meeting at the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) conference was not an
icebreaker. After shaking hands with other NU ulemas, Megawati
skipped doing the same with Abdurrahman and did not shake hands
with him until Syaifullah Yusuf prompted her to do so.

Abdurrahman behaved the same. Before Megawati went onstage to
give her address, he left the room, saying that he had another
appointment that evening.

We hope this was just out of negligence. However, it is
difficult to avoid the impression that political events involving
them has created a distance between them.

We must look at the examples given by the founders of this
republic. Mohammad Hatta, Muhammad Natsir and Sjahrir were in
great conflict with Sukarno, but the four of them were not
trapped by narrow-mindedness. Through their differences, they
helped one another and maintained the bond of friendship.

-- Republika, Jakarta