Gus Dur: A controversial, visionary leader

JAKARTA (JP): Muslim scholar Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesia's newly elected president, has always been a controversial political figure. His rise to power against all odds attests to his substantial staying power.

Considered a dark horse before Wednesday's presidential race, Gus Dur, as he is popularly known, was nominated by a small faction in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), and many people thought he stood little chance of winning the nation's top job.

With president B.J. Habibie's last minute withdrawal on Wednesday morning of his candidacy, the election turned into a two-horse race between Abdurrahman and Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose own nomination Abdurrahman had earlier supported and endorsed.

Most political analysts had also discounted his chances because of his ailing health and poor eyesight.

Even as Abdurrahman recently paid visits to Europe and the United States in order to seek medical treatment, many believed he had little chance of becoming Indonesia's next president.

Abdurrahman left his acceptance of the presidential nomination to as late as Monday, a move which confused the National Awakening Party (PKB), the party which he helped found and which controls 51 seats in the legislature.

The PKB had earlier promised to support Megawati.

This is not the first time that Abdurrahman has surprised the people, or his own supporters, and as he takes charge of the world's fourth largest country, it is likely that there are many more surprises in store for the nation.

He is a controversial and at times unpredictable figure.

As chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), a Muslim organization with some 30 million followers, Gus Dur often went against the current in order to defend a personal principle.

He showed his mettle in the early 1990s when he spoke harshly against the rise of sectarian politics, which was fanned by the establishment of the Association of Indonesian Islamic Intellectuals (ICMI), then chaired by Habibie.

His strong stance put him at odds with most other Muslim leaders in the country. He ruffled more feathers when he established a rival group to ICMI, the Forum for Democracy, which recruited intellectuals from various religions.

Ironically, his nomination in Wednesday's presidential election was largely initiated by Islamic parties, the very movements he criticized nine years ago.

His political vision nevertheless transcended the interests of his own NU organization, and, at times, even that of Indonesia.

He earned the wrath of the government and fellow Muslim leaders when he accepted a seat in the Yitzak Rabin foundation and again when he suggested initiating diplomatic ties with Israel.

His formidable reputation was shaped by his staunch criticisms of president Soeharto's regime. But he was also quick to forgive, as he showed when he visited the ailing former president and when he called on the public to forgive the former ruler.

Early this year, he initiated a plan to establish a truth and reconciliation commission similar to one in post-apartheid South Africa. Now as president, he will be in a better position to carry out his plan.

Gus Dur was born on Aug. 4, 1940, in Denanyar, Jombang, East Java, to one of the country's most influential families of Muslim leaders. His grandfather, Hasyim Ashari, was one of the greatest Muslim leaders at the turn of the century. His father, Wahid Hasyim, was minister of religious affairs in 1945.

Abdurrahman followed a family tradition of studying in many pesantren, (traditional Islamic boarding school). His name "Gus Dur" draws on a rich cultural tradition from his area, in which local people confer on the son of an elite family the title "Gus".

Abdurrahman later moved to Baghdad, Iraq, and studied literature and social studies in the Department of Letters at the university in Baghdad. His student days coincided with the coming to power of Iraq's Saddam Hussein's Baath, or Socialist Party, which attracted many followers.

As a knowledge-starved college student, Abdurrahman quickly learned the precepts of socialism. The Soeharto regime subsequently leveled baseless allegations at Abdurrahman, accusing him of being a member of the Baath Party.

Abdurrahman returned to Indonesia in 1974 and began his scholarly career by writing columns in Tempo magazine. The columns soon became one of the most favorite items in the magazine.

By the end of the 1970s, Abdurrahman had established himself as one of Indonesia's most respected scholars and was in high demand as a public speaker. He undertook serious social research and other studies. He also developed a reputation as an excellent speaker and his collection of jokes always attracted an avid audience.

It was not long before Indonesians began referring to Abdurrahman as budayawan, which literally means a "culturalist" -- a term that refers to someone who is considered a scholar in the field of cultural studies.

As a first-class scholar -- an achievement that in his later career has been neglected -- Gus Dur entered political life when he was elected in 1984 chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama.

His progressive vision of Islam contrasted with the traditionalist, rural outlook of the Nahdlatul Ulama, and at times he was at odds with the senior scholars of the organization.

Abdurrahman's criticisms of the Soeharto regime, for example, go against the NU's tradition of cooperating with the authorities. He nevertheless managed to win their trust and kept his chairmanship for three five-year terms.

Abdurrahman's election to the presidency means he will have to relinquish his NU chairmanship, a move he already had planned for next month.

If Abdurrahman took NU out of practical politics in 1984, he was also the one who brought the organization back into politics, following the establishment of the National Awakening Party last year. The move was specifically to further the group's political interest.

Abdurrahman thoughts and, sometimes, his actions, often spark controversies. One of his most controversial remarks was when he seriously, or jokingly, issued a statement that the Arabic and Islamic greeting Assalam alaikum (peace be unto you) be replaced with Indonesian words. The statement provoked immediate anger among many ulama.

Abdurrahman was forced to make an apology over the issue before he could continue his leadership in NU. On many occasions during the last years of Soeharto's New Order, Gus Dur was in the forefront of defending minority groups. Many people, including non-Muslim Chinese, accused him of being closer to the minorities than to the Islamic community itself.

Following a stroke in February 1998, Abdurrahman fell into a coma. Brain surgery saved his life, but Abdurrahman Wahid was ill for months, a condition that aggravated his eye problems.

From the early 1990s, Abdurrahman's eyesight deteriorated rapidly, and by the end of the decade he was almost blind. There are speculations that his health problems are genetic and are caused by the close blood ties of his parents.

Gus Dur is married to Sinta Nuriyah and has four daughters: Alisa Qotrunada, Zannuba Arifah, Anisa Hayatunufus and Inayah Wulandari.