Ex-president's memorable legacy

Ex-president's memorable legacy

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For former enigmatic president Abdurrahman Wahid, all Indonesians
-- be they of Chinese descent or of other ethnic backgrounds --
are equal.

He believes Indonesians should not be segregated into
indigenous and non-indigenous citizens, because such
categorizations would only allow racial discrimination to
persist.

"That's why I do not wish to consider Chinese-Indonesians as
so-called non-indigenous people," Abdurrahman, better known as
Gus Dur, told The Jakarta Post.

During his tenure as president in 2000, Gus Dur took the
opportunity to make one of his most significant contributions to
the nation, particularly to Chinese-Indonesians, by scrapping
Presidential Decree No. 14/1967 on Chinese religion, beliefs and
traditional customs.

The decree was issued by former dictator Soeharto during the
beginning of his presidency, two years after the failed coup
blamed on the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in
1965.

The decree banned Indonesians of Chinese descent from publicly
practicing their religious beliefs and traditional customs, and
instead relegated such practices to the privacy of their own
homes.

Gus Dur followed the revocation of this racist decree with the
issuance of a new decree on Jan. 17, 2000, which allows Chinese
traditional customs and beliefs to be practiced openly without
requiring permission from authorities.

This placed Gus Dur at the forefront of fighting
discrimination against Chinese-Indonesians, and strengthened his
status as a respected, pluralist national figure.

The move also further raised his popularity among the Chinese-
Indonesians, as it proved his commitment to eliminating
discriminatory measures against non-indigenous citizens.

If he were president now, he could have also reversed a number
of other discriminatory decrees and laws which are still in
effect.

"If you had told me what more I should have done, I would have
done so. It's not my business to find discriminatory
regulations," said Gus Dur.

Like many others, he admitted to the existence of
discriminatory treatment against Chinese-Indonesians, but on the
other hand, he added, there was also unequal treatment against
indigenous citizens by non-indigenous ones.

Gus Dur has received frequent complaints about discriminatory
treatment from indigenous managers and other executives working
for companies owned by ethnic Chinese businesspeople.

They said they could not, or found it hard to, achieve higher
positions in their companies, or that they were paid lower than
ethnic Chinese workers in the same positions.

"So, discrimination takes place on both sides -- the majority
and the minority groups," Gus Dur said. "The minority Chinese-
Indonesian group should be aware of this."

He said Chinese-Indonesians should follow up such complaints
with the "capability to carry out an internal correction", in
order to smooth the integration process.

Discrimination also exists in inter-ethnic relationships: Many
Chinese-Indonesian women had also conveyed their grievances to
Gus Dur, that they were prohibited from marrying indigenous men
by their parents.

For Gus Dur, who claims to have Chinese blood, the issue of
discrimination is the responsibility of all Indonesian citizens.

"If (Indonesians) of Chinese descent truly feel that they are
Indonesian citizens, they should not only voice their complaints,
but also take action to eliminate discrimination," he said.

"Therefore, revisions should be made to incorporate both
sides," he added.

Last year, President Megawati Soekarnoputri declared the
Chinese Lunar New Year, locally known as Imlek, a national
holiday beginning 2003 in a move aimed at showing her own
commitment to eradicating racism.

Unlike most Indonesians, Gus Dur was unhappy with this
decision by his successor, who had helped topple him from power
in 2001. He had once proposed that Imlek be adopted as an
optional holiday.

"We already have too many national holidays. The declaration
of another holiday would make Indonesians lazy... We need to be
more efficient," he explained.

The 62-year-old Gus Dur remains enigmatic and controversial in
his stance -- which has sometimes been deemed unpopular or
contentious -- despite having been forced to step down as
president after only a 20-month term.

Yet, Indonesians in general and many world figures acknowledge
him as a respected, pluralist Muslim leader.

Gus Dur, born on Aug. 4, 1940, has long been advocating
religious moderation among Muslims, particularly among the
followers of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which he had chaired before he
became President of Indonesia in 1999.

His disgraceful ouster from office in August 2001 has
apparently not made him desperate and frustrated like his two
predecessors, Soeharto and Habibie, who have since been absent
from the arena of practical politics.

Though now almost completely blind, Gus Dur is still a very
visible political figure, confident and charismatic, and he vows
to make a political comeback in the 2004 elections to challenge
Megawati, who was formerly a close friend.

His leadership of the nation's biggest Muslim organization
inspired and influenced many NU scholars to promote moderation in
religious thoughts and practices. Among these scholars are
current NU leader Hasyim Muzadi, as well as other senior officers
Ulil Absar Abdalla, Masdar Farid Masudi and A.S. Hikam.

Gus Dur, grandson to NU's founder Hasyim Asy'ari, also played
a pivotal role in building and expanding NU to become the most
influential Islamic organization in predominantly Muslim
Indonesia, now boasting a membership of over 40 million. This, in
turn, stirred the former Soeharto regime to sideline the group
politically.

Gus Dur's campaigns for pluralism caused him to be branded by
other Indonesian Muslims as an agent of Israel and the United
States, especially because of his controversial remarks on
religious practices and national policies.

Such criticism and opposition, however, have not succeeded in
stopping him from advocating what he believes to be true and
genuine. Instead, true to form, he has taken such things in
stride while forging ahead, setting his own pace and trend.