Gus Dur gets cooked by Court

Gus Dur gets cooked by Court

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta

Highly respected cleric and former president Abdurrahman Wahid
has seemingly thrown in the towel before the presidential
election campaign has even begun, as a response to the Supreme
Court's ruling against him on the health issue.

"I'm not running for the presidential race," he stated on
Friday after being informed that the Court had tossed out his
challenge of an election regulation, which stipulates that all
presidential candidates pass an eye examination. The decision was
issued on Thursday.

Like the other presidential aspirants Abdurrahman, or Gus Dur,
has undergone health examinations but the results have yet to be
announced.

Besides stating that he would not run in the July 5 election,
the visually impaired, outspoken cofounder of the National
Awakening Party (PKB) added that he would not endorse any
candidate, thereby further dimming the hopes of at least two
large parties trying to woo figures from the country's largest
Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)
have been courting NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi and other
influential clerics as possible running mates for their
presidential candidates, but have also said that the vice
presidential candidate would depend on the blessing of
Abdurrahman. He remains very influential in NU, which claims 40
million members.

Gus Dur did however, express hope that chief justice Bagir
Manan would annul the court's decision. The PKB, currently third
in terms of votes after the April 5 legislative election, filed
the request to the Court to revoke the health ruling issued by
the General Elections Commission (KPU).

PKB charges that the ruling discriminates against the
disabled, while adding that the Constitution and Election Law
recognize the political right of all law-abiding citizens to run
for the country's top office.

The Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the KPU last week,
saying that medical examinations were required for presidential
and vice presidential candidates.

The KPU, in cooperation with the Indonesian Doctors
Association (IDI), has imposed health requirements for
presidential and vice presidential candidates, including eyesight
requirements, which have been viewed by many as an effort to
prevent Gus Dur from standing.

Antara reported from Surabaya, East Java, that supporters of
Gus Dur on Friday collected signatures in support of the cleric
to run for president. So far over 6 million out of PKB's more
than 10 million votes have come from East Java, the party's
stronghold where PKB ranks highest with over 30 percent of votes
according to KPU's provisional election results. The voters are
believed to be NU supporters who want Gus Dur as president. Blind
people in Lampung in South Sumatra and protesters in wheelchairs
in Jakarta have also demonstrated against the KPU ruling.

Meanwhile, a group of NU members in Bandung, West Java
suggested that PKB nominate either Solahuddin Wahid or Khofifah
Indar Parawansa, both prominent NU figures, as presidential
candidates. Solahuddin is another influential cleric and Gus
Dur's younger, healthier brother, while Khofifah is a former PKB
legislator and served as a minister in Gus Dur's Cabinet.

Hasyim Muzadi - Page 4

Related photo - Page 2