Chatting with Gus Dur to avoid misunderstanding

Tabayun Gus Dur; Moh. Shaleh Isre, Editor; LKIS, Yogyakarta; 1st printing, June 1, 1998; xvi + 250 pp

YOGYAKARTA (JP): It is to be "regretted" that amid the recent massive wave of demands for political and economic reform, Gus Dur, as Abdurrahman Wahid is better known, has not been as "outspoken" as he is usually known to be.

As he is a national figure, many people are waiting to see his attitude and hear his ideas, especially at a time when the country is being buffeted by crises and fraught with turmoil.

Also, as the No. 1 man in Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), millions of his supporters in this Moslem organization have been anxiously waiting to hear his "decree" as leaders such as he can enlighten their followers and provide them with guidance when the state is unstable.

One of the reasons why Gus Dur has fallen short of people's expectations is that on Jan. 20, 1998 he fell seriously ill and was told to take "total bed rest". This illness has forced him to temporarily stop his activities and also his contacts with the media.

In the case of the latter, lack of contact leaves a public figure seeming half-dead and ready to be "forgotten", especially at a time like the present when the mass media constitutes the driving force in society.

As a result, the public has found a new figure, a flexible, outspoken and open person who continues to gain greater popularity, while the popularity of Gus Dur himself is on the wane.

To many people he reached the nadir of his popularity as a public figure with his refusal to accept an offer from Amien Rais, then chairman of the central executive board of Muhammadiyah, to join a national coalition for reform along with Amien himself and Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party faction not recognized by the government.

The word tabayun" in the title of the book means clarifying a problem or the origin of an event before one starts debating a particular matter. This book has, to all intents and purposes, such a "mission".

Through this book Gus Dur wishes to "chat" again with the public about various problems related to democracy, human rights and the protection of minorities. Gus Dur has for a long time been waging a struggle in the interests of these three subjects.

In other words, the publication of the book is not intended to maintain Gus Dur's popularity, but rather to refamiliarize people with the ideas that he has expressed in his writings in various media publications and that are still relevant today.

Moreover, this book should prevent Gus Dur from being misunderstood and being considered as having lost much of his outspokenness. As stated above the latter attitude stems from his apparent preference to keep quiet and also because some of his recent political maneuvers have been disappointing to many people, including his own supporters.

So, the reproduction in book format of various interviews that Gus Dur has had with the mass media is aimed at refreshing our vision of many ideas concerning management, rearrangement and development of the life of the nation and the state. A wade range of topics concerning the management of our lives as a nation has always been what Gus Dur has intensely involved himself in, as seen in various interviews he has given in the past decade.

Just contemplate the gem of an idea taken from one of his interviews with the now-defunct Editor magazine in December 1990: "It is my ambition to see Indonesian Moslems turn themselves into broad-minded religious people. People with an ability to understand other people. People willing to completely share things with others. People upholding freedom as a means of democracy."

-- Binhad Nurrohmat

The reviewer is chairman of Balkon Bincang Kebudayaan/Balcony for Cultural Discussions, Yogyakarta.