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

Bandung