Muslim intellectual Nurcholish dies atb66
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Jombang, East Java
Indonesia has been plunged into mourning by the death of one of the country's most prominent and respected Muslim intellectuals, Nurcholish Madjid, who died after fighting liver problems for the past year.
The Muslim scholar, known for his advocacy of pluralism and tolerance in the predominantly Muslim country, had been receiving treatment at the Pondok Indah International Hospital since Monday.
He died at the age of 66, with his wife and their two children at his bedside.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and many other national figures, including former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid and People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid, paid their last respects to Nurcholish, whose remains have been laid out in Paramadina University, South Jakarta, which he founded eight years ago.
Nurcholish underwent a liver transplant in a Chinese hospital last year. He was then transferred to Singapore for recuperative treatment, where he stayed for a few months.
He made his first -- and last -- appearance in public since his liver operation when he invited the country's former presidents on Aug. 15 to a commemoration to mark the 60th anniversary of Indonesian independence at the State Archives building. Gus Dur was the only former president who responded to Nurcholish's invitation.
Nurcholish will be buried in the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. He received the Mahaputra Utama medal in 1999, making him eligible for a state burial.
Born to a family of Muslim clerics in the small East Java town of Jombang, Nurcholish attended a series of Islamic boarding schools before entering the state Islamic university in Jakarta. He later went on to gain a doctorate in Islamic studies from the University of Chicago.
He was made famous by his slogan, "Islam yes, Islamic political parties no," during the rule of Soeharto, who consulted the Muslim scholar on reform prior to the former's resignation in 1998.
Nurcholish stood in the national convention to elect the Golkar Party's presidential candidate last year, but later pulled out, complaining of vote-buying.
In his hometown of Jombang, dozens of people gathered for prayers at the modest home of Nurcholish's parents in Mojoanyar village, some 55 kilometers south of the East Java capital of Surabaya.
His sister Muhlisah and brother Muhammad Adnan hosted the prayer meeting. The two will fly to Jakarta early on Tuesday to attend their brother's funeral.
Floral wreaths were sent to Nurcholish's relatives, including one from the Jombang administration and the local office of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.
Apart from Paramadina University in Jakarta, Nurcholish also founded an Islamic elementary school and a vocational training center for youths near his parents' house.