Gus Dur: A controversial, visionary leader

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.