House member hails Peres' offer to Gus Dur
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)