Gus Dur's significant steps

Gus Dur's significant steps

From Pikiran Rakyat

Recently Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) took steps which were hard to understand by his colleagues of the Ciganjur Declaration. He initiated a dialog with Gen. Wiranto, President Habibie and even former president Soeharto. His actions seemed very significant and well-calculated, though open to various interpretations, and apparently not detrimental to himself or his organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

If these steps had been taken by Amien Rais, Megawati Soekarnoputri or Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, I think they would have done immediate harm to their reputations. They would have been severely criticized by the students and the opposition community in general. This did not happen to Gus Dur.

The City Forum said the meeting between Gus Dur and Soeharto was a wise step. Amien Rais preferred to refrain from any comments. Many people have come to visit Gus Dur at Ciganjur since his meeting with Soeharto.

In fact, Gus Dur has very often taken steps that "disappointed" and "betrayed" his colleagues. But he always managed to steer himself clear and there were always people willing to support him.

Gus Dur's tactical steps and his highly intelligent and important statements seem to be indicative that he is not alone. There is a kind of think tank supporting him. I think this think tank is not an institute within NU, but outside the organization.

I believe that Gus Dur still has important information and directives from Benny Moerdani as well as the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) that he has not yet imparted. The proof is that before meeting Soeharto he consulted with Benny Moerdani and Harry Tjan Silalahi in what was clearly not a courtesy call.

It is clear that Gus Dur is always tactical and able to look into the future and produce relatively sharp analyses (though he makes mistakes to). This is thanks to the support of the invisible think tank, something that neither Amien Rais nor the other players have. The invisible team consists of Benny Moerdani, the CSIS and other New Order architects. It is this factor that has made Gus Dur look so formidable.

GUS EFFENDI

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