Selamat Jalan Gus Dur

Indonesia’s fourth president and the first to be democratically elected, Abdurrahman Wahid, fondly called Gus Dur passed away last evening. His controversial leadership of a fledgling democracy between the tumultuous years of 1999 and 2001 has been criticized as often as it has been praised, but it cannot be denied that he set Indonesia – the world’s largest Muslim nation, on a path of inclusiveness, tolerance and freedom that is, one hopes, irreversible. He leaves behind a powerful legacy of a tolerant Islam – the one he practised, preached and protected from detractors.

Gus Dur was born in an illustrious family. His father was Wahid Hasyim, a hero of Indonesia’s freedom struggle and the first Minister of Religious Affairs in the independent Indonesia. His paternal grandfather, Hasyim Asy’ari was one of the founders of Nahdlatul Ulama(NU), which is now Indonesia’s and probably the world’s largest Islamic organisation. His maternal grandfather Bisri Syansuri, was one of the first Muslim educators to introduce classes for women. With such credentials, little wonder that Gus Dur turned out to be the emancipated man that he was.

As the chairman of NU himself, and as president, Gus Dur fought for what he firmly believed was the right Islam. He had once responded to his critics who questioned his Islamic credentials thus,

“Those who say that I am not Islamic enough should reread their Koran. Islam is about inclusion, tolerance, community.”

The strength of his personal integrity and convictions is borne out by the fact that he often decided to go against popular posturing if he believed he was in the right. He was a lone voice defending author Salman Rushdie, when the entire Muslim population of the world was gunning for his blood. He also believed in reconciliation with Israel, a taboo in the Islamic world. As chairman of NU, he travelled to Israel twice, in 1994 and 1997. In 1997 he accepted a prize in Jerusalem in honour of the assassinated Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin and signed a charter for peace promoted by the Simon Perez Institute in Tel Aviv. During the Holocaust conference in Bali, Indonesia in 2007, which took place thanks to his untiring efforts, he called Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, a liar for denying the Holocaust.

His gift to Indonesia’s future was his efforts at bringing the Indonesia military under civilian control and making it accountable to the people, unlike in the past. He also abolished the Ministry of Information, Suharto’s main body aimed at throttling freedom of speech. He was the first to make diplomatic overtures to the insurgents in Aceh and West Papua and displayed his willingness to silence the guns in favour of talks. He gave the Chinese Indonesian minority its voice and identity back by lifting the Suharto era ban on the display of Chinese characters and symbolism and the importing of Chinese publications. He also declared Chinese New Year as a holiday. He visited the former Indonesian territory of East Timor and apologized for Indonesian military’s atrocities and excesses during the Timorese freedom struggle. He also removed Wiranto, a former general, from his cabinet, for his alleged role in the excesses. Through these gestures, he prepared Indonesians for a democracy which enshrines religious tolerance, respect for minority rights and fundamental freedoms.

His presidency though, was marked by uncertainty and impulsive decisions. So much so that, it is reputed that a popular quip in Jakarta in those days used to be – there are three things in this world which are uncertain – life, death and Gus Dur! His tendency to fall asleep at public meetings was another infamous hallmark of his presidency! But he was always jovial and ready with a joke, a famous one being this -Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno was crazy for women; its second, Suharto was crazy for money; its third, Habibie was simply crazy; and he, the fourth just drove everyone crazy!

On a personal side, Gus Dur loved music, especially the Western Classical composer Beethoven. Once long after his presidency, he was asked about what he missed most from those days. He replied,

I don’t prize it too much. The presidency was just a task to finish. I regret more the loss of my collection of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony — 27 CD’s and tapes. The boy that was taking care of it ran away with it, and now I think it’s for sale in the market. So I regret that more. I fired him!

(Source: The New York Times – Indonesia’s Ex-President Expects to Be Restored)

Selamat jalan Gus Dur (Farewell Gus Dur). You will be missed.

(Further reading: Promoting the Good by Abdurrahman Wahid – Gus Dur’s views on Islam, Peace, Democracy and Righteousness)

“All religions insist on peace. From this we might think that the religious struggle for peace is simple… but it is not. The deep problem is that people use religion wrongly in pursuit of victory and triumph. This sad fact then leads to conflict with people who have different beliefs.”

[UPDATE: An excellent article, titled 'The blind man with 20/20 vision' from an Israeli Rabbi who personally knew him.]