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