Stop airing individual grudges

Stop airing individual grudges

From Rakyat Merdeka

Those who are against President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid
want him to step down because they think this will be better for
national unity and also because he appears to be capable of doing
hardly anything to stop the bloody communal clashes in our
country, the Sampit tragedy in Central Kalimantan being the
latest example.

In retrospect, we find that in the 1999 presidential election
held by the general assembly of the People's Consultative
Assembly, Gus Dur was democratically elected thanks to the
political tactics employed by the Axis Force, although he beat
Mbak Megawati by a margin of only 50 votes.

Gus Dur has been the President of this country for over a year
now and his leadership has been colored by a number of
controversies. Some people can accept his ideas and some Muslim
traditionalists even consider him close to being a wali, a pious
Islamic leader in the mode of those who first spread Islam in
Java. The noble K.H. Abdullah Faqih even said emotionally that an
angel was perched on Gus Dur's shoulder. Others show their
excessive support for him. For Gus Dur's supporters, his alleged
involvement in two financial scandals is outright slander and
they hold that "slander is more cruel than murder."

As a layman, I would like to call upon the members of the
political elite now opposing Gus Dur, but who previously elevated
him to the presidential office, to do something beneficial. If
you find fault with Gus Dur's performance, channel your grudges
through the legislature. Don't air your grudges individually.
This call also goes out to university students, who are actually
not the representatives of the people. The students' street rally
on March 12 clearly showed that they were representing a
particular elite group. I'm sure that Gus Dur's leadership is not
to be blamed for the drop in the exchange rate of our rupiah.

ABU AMAR

Jakarta