Muhammad Yunan Nasution, noted ulema, dies at 83

Muhammad Yunan Nasution, noted ulema, dies at 83

JAKARTA (JP): Muhammad Yunan Nasution, former Moslem
politician-cum-journalist, independence fighter and one of
Indonesia's most respected ulemas, died here on Friday aged 83.

Hundreds of people paid their last respects while Yunan laid
in state at his home on Jl. Cipedak, Cipinang, South Jakarta, on
Friday night. Among those expressing condolences included
Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher and Armed Forces
Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung, according to Republika daily.

Hundreds others yesterday prayed for him at Al Azhar Grand
Mosque and later attended his funeral at the Tanah Kusir public
cemetery in South Jakarta.

Yunan was buried next to his first wife who died in 1967. He
is survived by his second wife, Amirsani, and four children as
well as great number of grandchildren from his first wife,
Nadimah.

Yunan died a week after his birthday on Nov. 22, and only
hours after his family took him to the Jakarta Islamic Hospital
because of a fever.

The illustrious Moslem leader was born in 1913 in Nopan
Botung, North Sumatra. In his lifetime, he was once a legislator
at the House of Representatives. He was also the secretary-
general of Masyumi, an Islamic political party with great clout
in the 1950s, and chief editor of Pedoman Masyarakat magazine in
Medan between 1935 and 1940, and of Abadi daily from 1956 to
1960.

He was also part of the Majelis Hikmah, a think tank of the
Muhammadiyah Moslem organization. He was also a member of the
Indonesian National Central Committee (KNIP), an advisory body to
the president established in 1945.

Yunan wrote at least 40 books on various issues, especially
Islam and community development. Ill health and old age forced
him to stop writing in the past year.

One of his famous works is a book titled Di Balik Terali Orde
Lama (Behind Old Order Bars) which he completed when he was
serving time as a political prisoner at the Madiun Penitentiary
in East Java during the Old Order regime under the late president
Sukarno.

As did a number of Masyumi's leaders, Yunan became a political
victim of the time and was jailed without due legal process.
(ste)