Cak Nur discharged from hospital

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The return home of Nurcholish Madjid from hospital on Monday has not only rekindled the hope among his admirers that the respected Muslim scholar will soon be active again, but also reflects his strength in the face of adversity, close friends and associates say.

Cak Nur, as the 66-year-old intellectual is popularly known, had undergone a series of surgeries and medical treatment in Indonesia, China and Singapore before Pondok Indah Hospital in South Jakarta discharged him on Monday.

Rahmat Hidayat, his personal aide, said that Nurcholish only needed to undergo physiotherapy to regain his physical balance after having been confined for almost a year in a hospital bed.

"He still reads, mostly newspapers and the Koran," Rahmat said.

"Hopefully, his admirers will be able to see him back in seminars and conferences in six months time," said Ibnu Soetanto, one of Cak Nur's closest friends.

He added that when being hospitalized, Cak Nur had remained an avid reader, regularly devouring several publications such as Time, Newsweek and local newspapers.

Cak Nur's first medical problems occurred immediately after he cast his ballot in the first round of the presidential election on July 5, 2004. He had withdrawn his presidential bid after many of his colleagues advised him not to run for the poll with a ticket from the Golkar Party.

"Later that afternoon, after he had cast his vote, he said he felt dizzy and lost his appetite. We rushed him to the hospital, where doctors explained that he had liver cirrhosis (CA). His liver had hardened and did not function well," said Ibnu Soenanto, another of Cak Nur's close friends.

Ibnu, who kept watching over Cak Nur during his treatment in Jakarta, China and Singapore, said that two days later doctors told him that Cak Nur had to undergo a liver transplant to save him.

"The decision was made after consultation with experts from Pondok Indah Hospital in South Jakarta, Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, and doctors in Japan and Europe," he said.

Ibnu said China is the only country that has a hospital which could provide a donor on short notice. Pondok Indah Hospital also had a patient who successfully underwent a liver transplant in China a few years ago.

After having had a successful operation at the Taiping People's Hospital in Guangdong, Cak Nur underwent three more operations to deal with the effects of the transplant operation.

After a month in China, Cak Nur was transferred by air ambulance to Singapore, where he spent six months to get treatment for an infection in his stomach cavity.

"The wounds he sustained during the operation had to be cleaned. So, he had to be operated on. After that, there was bleeding in his digestive system. So the doctors operated on him again," said Ibnu.

A doctor at Singapore's National University Hospital, Dede Selamat, praised Cak Nur as "an unbelievable fighter", as he managed to pass through repeated surgeries with strength and the full confidence that he would survive. (006)