Nurcholish in critical condition again

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.