Yenny Wahid invites students to emulate Gus Dur's leadership values
Many young people have already embraced Gus Dur’s leadership values, but not all of them, so the message must continue to be championed.
Semarang (ANTARA) - Yenny Wahid, director of the Wahid Foundation, has invited students to emulate the leadership values of Indonesia’s fourth president, KH Abdurrahman Wahid, affectionately known as Gus Dur.
“The values that exist here at Udinus are already truly extraordinary, and I am simply completing them by telling stories about Gus Dur’s values,” she said in Semarang on Monday.
She made these remarks during a public lecture at the opening of “Dinus Inside 2026” at the Universitas Dian Nuswantoro (Udinus) campus in Semarang.
She expressed hope that young leaders emerging from Udinus would be leaders who possess not only expertise but also wisdom, compassion, and a desire to serve the nation and the state.
According to her, many young people have already taken inspiration from Gus Dur’s leadership values, but not all of them have, so the message needs to continue to be championed.
“We must ensure that young people are willing to keep an open mind, respect differences, fight for humanity, have the courage to defend the weak, struggle so that democracy can continue to be upheld, and protect one another,” she said.
Zannuba Ariffah Chafsoh, her full name, also expressed her happiness at being present and celebrating this special moment with all of Udinus’s new students.
“Today is a special day for me, and for the family of the fourth president of the Republic of Indonesia. Because today is his birthday, and also the birthday of the foundation I established with my father, the Wahid Foundation,” she said.
After the lecture, the Wahid Foundation provided support in the form of scholarships awarded to ten students currently pursuing their studies, followed by the cutting of a tumpeng (ceremonial rice cone).
Meanwhile, Udinus Rector Prof Pulung Nurtantio Andono explained that the “Dinus Inside 2026” series of events would run for two days, from 7 to 9 September 2026.
He explained that the public lecture deliberately invited two speakers capable of offering different insights to Udinus’s new students, who belong to Generation Z.
Therefore, in this year’s intake of new students, Udinus equipped them with knowledge on how to live as a nation and state, as well as survival skills.
“We want to cultivate a fighting spirit in our students, and I am delighted to see how critical this Generation Z cohort of students is,” he said.