Gus Dur upbeat about medical test results
Gus Dur upbeat about medical test results
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite his strong aversion to what he claims is a discriminatory
regulation, half-blind Muslim cleric Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid
underwent the arduous medical examination required by the KPU on
Thursday.
Passing the examination is a prerequisite to being allowed to
contest the July 5 presidential election.
Gus Dur arrived at the General Elections Commission-designated
Gatot Subroto Army Hospital in Central Jakarta at around 6:35
a.m, just minutes after another presidential candidate, Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, had arrived.
Vice Presidential aspirant Jusuf Kalla arrived at the same
hospital at around 7:15, also for a medical.
"I will pass the medical if the Supreme Court overturns the
General Elections Commission's regulation on health
requirements," Gus Dur told reporters after the eight-hour-long
examination.
Accompanied by his wife, Sinta Nuriyah, and daughter Yenny
Zannuba, Gus Dur was the last to complete the medical. Susilo,
the former coordinating minister for political and security
affairs, and Kalla, the former coordinating minister for people's
welfare, finished earlier.
Gus Dur, who was removed from the presidency, ostensibly for
incompetence, in July 2001, has been declared the sole
presidential candidate of the National Awakening Party (PKB), a
political party established by the country's largest Muslim
organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
His presidential ambitions, however, were placed in doubt
after the General Elections Commission (KPU) issued health
requirements for presidential and vice presidential candidates.
According to the KPU requirements, presidential and vice
presidential candidates have to have good eyesight, among other
things.
Condemning the requirement as discriminatory, Gus Dur and his
party, the PKB, have legally challenged the ruling and the
election legislation, seeking judicial reviews from both the
Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court.
The Constitutional Court ruled earlier that the Election Law
No. 12/2003 did not violate the 1945 Constitution. The Supreme
Court is expected to issue its decision on May 5, just days
before the registration period for presidential and vice
presidential candidates closes on May 7.
Many disabled people across the country, especially those who
are visually impaired, have launched protests against the
"discriminatory" regulation.
IDI chairman Farid Anfasa Moeloek refused to reveal the
results of Gus Dur's medical.
"Gus Dur sat his medical as scheduled. We cannot reveal the
results as we have to submit them to the KPU," said Moeloek, who
is also a former minister of health under former president B.J.
Habibie.
He said the results would be discussed by a team of 70 doctors
from various universities during a plenary session before they
would be submitted to the KPU.
It will clearly be difficult for Gus Dur to pass the eyesight
requirement set by the KPU as he has lost most of his vision due
to several strokes.
Susilo and Kalla, who have been nominated by the Democratic
Party as its presidential and vice presidential candidates
respectively, both expressed optimism that they would pass their
medicals.
"But its up to the doctors. They know more about our health
than we do," Susilo said.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the KPU's working group in charge
of the presidential election, Anas Urbaningrum, said that the
commission would not reveal the results of the medicals
immediately.
"The results will be announced when all the presidential and
vice presidential candidates have registered with the
commission," Anas said at the hospital.
He said the registration of the presidential and vice
presidential candidates would start after all the results of the
legislative election had been confirmed.