Cak Nur discharged from hospital

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 He had withdrawn his presidential bid after many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)