House member hails Peres' offer to Gus Dur

JAKARTA (JP): A legislator hailed yesterday the nomination of Abdurrahman Wahid, the prominent chairman of Indonesia's largest Moslem organization Nahdlatul Ulama, to be a member of Israel's Simon Peres Institute.

The independent institute, located in Jerusalem, deals with regional and international affairs.

Antara quoted Abu Hasan Sazili, the deputy chairman of House Commission I for foreign affairs, defense and information as saying yesterday that Abdurrahman would be a great asset to Indonesia's efforts to help establish peace in the Middle East and around the world.

An active participant in international peace and religious forums, Abdurrahman is expected to discuss with Israel the importance of peace for all parties concerned, Abu said.

Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, made a highly- publicized, controversial visit to Israel and gave a lecture at Tel Aviv University in October 1994.

During the visit, which also included Italy and the Netherlands, Abdurrahman was accompanied by Djohan Effendy, a senior researcher at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and Habib Chirzin, head of the foreign relations department of Muhammadiyah, an influential socioeducational Moslem organization.

Abdurrahman received a great deal for criticism for the visit at the time. However at the Nahdlatul Ulama congress in Dec. 1994, it took him less than an hour to convince the organization's senior ulemas and branch leaders to accept his rationale for the visit. He was then reelected NU chairman.

"We should encourage and support Gus Dur's membership of the institute. He has a strong sense of nationalism despite his outspoken opinions," Abu said.

Abdurrahman recently admitted to receiving a letter from former Israeli prime minister Simon Peres requesting his willingness to join the institute.

The Kompas daily said yesterday Simon Peres said in his letter that he issued the invitation after a thorough study of Abdurrahman's attitude, outlook and perseverance to build peace through religion.

Abdurrahman said he fell to his knees and prostrated in gratitude to Allah on receiving the letter. He said he was taken completely by surprise as the invitation came from the opposition, not the pro-Arab group he supported.

He expressed regret because "I cannot tell my teachers of the happiness I am experiencing because of the letter from Simon Peres." He was referring to his mentors, the late Chudori Tegalrejo, Abd. Fattah Hasyim and KH Idris.

Abdurrahman said he would refuse the invitation only if he saw the dead mentors in a dream telling him to refuse. "Because they haven't appeared yet, it's ok (for me to accept)," he said. (01)