Nurcholish in critical condition again

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Respected Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid lapsed into critical condition again on Thursday.

Cak Nur, as the 66-year-old intellectual is familiarly known, was taken back to the Pondok Indah Hospital in South Jakarta on Wednesday night with complications.

He was initially treated in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit before being moved to a regular ward.

Cak Nur had undergone a series of operations for his liver problems in Indonesia, China and Singapore before being sent back home.

One of his close aides said that as of Thursday afternoon, Cak Nur was still in critical condition and under intensive monitoring due to "serious complications".

"He remains conscious, though, and he can still recognize people. He has an excellent memory," the aide, who declined to be named, told The Jakarta Post.

A number of famous figures have visited the ailing scholar, who is widely hailed as one of the greatest Indonesian Muslim thinkers.

Among those visiting him on Thursday were People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid, presidential spokesperson Andi Malarangeng, economist Faisal Basri and Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris.

Andi said that Cak Nur recognized him and spoke his name faintly.

"I don't know for sure what's wrong with him, but he's very weak," said Andi as quoted by news portal detikcom.

Cak Nur first fell ill in July last year, when doctors diagnosed him as having cirrhosis of the liver.

He then underwent a liver transplant operation in Taiping Hospital in Guangdong, China, before being transferred to Singapore's National University Hospital (NUH) to receive further treatment for an infection.

In March 2005, Cak Nur, the current rector of Paramadina University, was flown home to Indonesia and hospitalized again in Pondok Indah. Not long afterwards, he was discharged after his health showed signs of improving.

Cak Nur's relapse, however, will be worrying to many people, moderate Muslims in particular, who have long recognized his outstanding contribution to the way people understand Islam.

Many people are fervently praying that the prominent Muslim scholar will recover and continue to put forward practical ideas for promoting Muslim moderation, tolerance and good governance in Indonesia.

Many have hailed the role played by Cak Nur, who is also a professor at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN), in helping curb the proliferation of Muslim fundamentalist and hard-line groups.