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In office
20 October 1999 – 23 July 2001 |
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Vice President
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Megawati Sukarnoputri
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Preceded by
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BacharuddinJusufHabibie
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Succeeded by
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Megawati Sukarnoputri
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Personal details
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Born
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7 September 1940
Jombang, East Java, Dutch East Indies |
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Died
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30 December 2009
(aged 69)
Jakarta, Indonesia |
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Resting place
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Jombang, East
Java,
Indonesia
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Political party
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National Awakening Party
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Spouse(s)
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ShintaNuriyah
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Profession
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Religious Leader, Politician
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Religion
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Islam
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Website
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www.gusdur.net
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Abdurrahman Wahid, born Abdurrahman
Addakhil (7 September 1940 – 30 December 2009), colloquially known
as Gus Dur, was an Indonesian Muslim religious and
political leader who served as the President
of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001. The long-time president of the NahdlatulUlama and the founder of the National
Awakening Party (PKB), Wahid was the first elected
president of Indonesia after the resignation of Suharto in 1998.
Like many Indonesian names, "Abdurrahman
Wahid" does not contain a family name. The name
"Wahid" is patronymic. His popular nickname Gus
Dur, is derived from Gus, a common honorific for a son of kyai, from short-form of bagus
('handsome lads' in Javanese language); and Dur,
short-form of his name, Abdurrahman.
Early life
Abdurrahman Wahid in his youth
Abdurrahman ad-Dakhil
Wahid was born on the fourth day of the eighth month of the Islamic calendar in 1940 in Jombang, East Java to Abdul Wahid Hasyim and SitiSolichah. This
led to a belief that he was born on 4 August; instead, using the Islamic
calendar to mark his birth date meant that he was actually born on 4 Sha'aban, equivalent to 7 September 1940. He was
named after Abdar-Rahman I of the Umayyad
Caliphate who brought Islam to Spain and was thus nicknamed
"ad-Dakhil" ("the conqueror"). His name is stylized in the
traditional Arabic naming system as "Abdurrahman, son of Wahid".
He was the firstborn out
of his five siblings, and Wahid was born into a very prestigious family in the
East Java Muslim community. His paternal grandfather, HasyimAsy'ari was the founder of NahdlatulUlama (NU) while his maternal
grandfather, BisriSyansuri was the first Muslim educator to introduce classes
for women. Wahid's father, Wahid Hasyim, was involved in the Nationalist
Movement and would go on to be Indonesia's first Minister of Religious Affairs.
In 1944, Wahid moved from
Jombang to Jakarta where his father was involved with the
Consultative Council of Indonesian Muslims (Masyumi), an organization
established by the Imperial
Japanese Army which occupied Indonesia at the time.
After the Indonesian
Declaration of Independence on 17 August 1945, Wahid moved back to
Jombang and remained there during the fight for independence from the Netherlands during the Indonesian
National Revolution. At the end of the war in 1949, Wahid
moved to Jakarta as his father had received appointment as Minister of
Religious Affairs. Wahid went about his education in Jakarta, going to KRIS
Primary School before moving to MatramanPerwari Primary School. Wahid was also
encouraged to read non-Muslim books, magazines, and newspapers by his father to
further broaden his horizons. Wahid stayed in Jakarta with his family even
after his father's removal as Minister of Religious Affairs in 1952. In April
1953, Wahid's father died after being involved in a car crash.
In 1954, Wahid began
Junior High School. That year, he failed to graduate to the next year and was
forced to repeat. His mother then made the decision to send Wahid to Yogyakarta to continue his
education. In 1957, after graduating from Junior High School, Wahid moved to Magelang to begin Muslim Education at Pesantren
(Muslim School) Tegalrejo. He completed the pesantren's course in two
years instead of the usual four. In 1959, Wahid moved back to Jombang to PesantrenTambakberas.
There, while continuing his own education, Wahid also received his first job as
a teacher and later on as headmaster of a madrasahaffiliated with the Pesantren.
Wahid also found employment as a journalist for magazines such as Horizon
and MajalahBudaya Jaya.
Overseas education
In 1963, Wahid received a
scholarship from the Ministry of Religious Affairs to study at Al Azhar
University in Cairo, Egypt. He left for Egypt in November
1963. Unable to provide evidence to certify that he spoke Arabic, Wahid was told when arriving that he
would have to take a remedial class in the language before enrolling at the
University's Higher Institute for Islamic and Arabic studies.
Instead of attending
classes, Wahid spent 1964 enjoying life in Egypt; watching European and
American movies as well indulging in his hobby of watching football. Wahid was also involved
with the Association of Indonesian Students and became a journalist for the
association's magazine. After passing the remedial Arabic examination, he
finally began studies at the Higher Institute for Islamic and Arabic Studies in
1965, but was disappointed. He had already studied many of the texts offered at
the Institute in Java and disapproved of the rote learning method used by the
University. Wahid attended Karachi
Grammar School in Pakistan. In Egypt, Wahid found employment
with the Indonesian Embassy. It was during his stint with the Embassy that coup
attempt was launched by the 30 September
Movement, which the Communist
Party of Indonesia was accused of leading. With Army Strategic Reserves commander Major General Suharto taking control of the situation in
Jakarta, a crackdown against suspected communists was initiated. The Indonesian
Embassy in Egypt was ordered to conduct an investigation into the political
views of university students. This order was passed to Wahid, who was charged
with writing the reports.
Wahid's displeasure at
the method of education and his work following the coup attempt distracted him
from his studies. Wahid sought and received another scholarship at the University of
Baghdad and moved to Iraq. There Wahid continued his involvement
with the Association of Indonesian Students as well as with writing
journalistic pieces to be read in Indonesia.
After completing his
education at the University of Baghdad in 1970, Wahid went to the Netherlands
to continue his education. Wahid wanted to attend Leiden University but was disappointed as
there was little recognition for the studies that he had undertaken at the
University of Baghdad. From the Netherlands, Wahid went to Germany and France
before returning to Indonesia in 1971.
Early career
Wahid returned to Jakarta
expecting that in a year's time, he would be abroad again to study at McGill
University in Canada. He kept himself busy by joining the Institute
for Economic and Social Research, Education and Information (LP3ES), an
organization which consisted of intellectuals with progressive Muslims and
social-democratic views. LP3ES established the magazine Prisma and Wahid
became one of the main contributors to the magazine. Whilst working as a
contributor for LP3ES, Wahid also conducted tours to pesantrens and madrasahs
across Java. It was a time when pesantren were desperate to gain state
funding by adopting state-endorsed curricula and Wahid was concerned that the
traditional values of the pesantren were being damaged because of this
change. Wahid was also concerned with the poverty of the pesantren which
he saw during his tours. At the same time as it was encouraging pesantren
to adopt state-endorsed curricula, the Government was also encouraging pesantren
as agents for change and to help assist the Government in the economic
development of Indonesia. It was at this time that Wahid finally decided to
drop plans for overseas studies in favor of promoting the development of the pesantren.
Wahid continued his
career as a journalist, writing for the magazine Tempo and Kompas,
a leading Indonesian newspaper. His articles were well received, and he began
to develop a reputation as a social commentator. Wahid's popularity was such
that at this time he was invited to give lectures and seminars, obliging him to
travel back and forth between Jakarta and Jombang, where he now lived with his
family.
Despite having a
successful career up to that point, Wahid still found it hard to make ends
meet, and he worked to earn extra income by selling peanuts and delivering ice
to be used for his wife's EsLilin (popsicle) business. In 1974, Wahid
found extra employment in Jombang as a Muslim Legal Studies teacher at
PesantrenTambakberas and soon developed a good reputation. A year later, Wahid
added to his workload as a teacher of Kitab Al Hikam, a classical text of sufism.
In 1977, Wahid joined the
HasyimAsyari University as Dean of the Faculty of Islamic Beliefs and
Practices. Again Wahid excelled in his job and the University wanted to Wahid
to teach extra subjects such as pedagogy, sharia, and missiology. However, his excellence
caused some resentment from within the ranks of university and Wahid was
blocked from teaching the subjects. Whilst undertaking all these ventures Wahid
also regularly delivered speeches during Ramadan to the Muslim community in Jombang.
Leader of NahdlatulUlama
Early involvement with NU
Wahid's family background
meant that sooner or later, he would be asked to play an active role in the
running of NahdlatulUlama (NU). This ran contrary
to Wahid's aspirations of becoming a public intellectual and he had twice
rejected offers to join the NU Religious Advisory Council. Nevertheless, Wahid
finally chose to join the Council when his own grandfather, BisriSyansuri gave
him the third offer. In taking this job, Wahid also made the decision to move
from Jombang to Jakarta and to permanently reside there. As a member of the
Religious Advisory Council, Wahid envisioned himself as a reformer of NU.
At this time, Wahid also
had his first political experience. In the lead-up to the 1982 Legislative
Elections, Wahid campaigned for the United
Development Party (PPP), an Islamist Party which was formed
as a result of a merger of four Islamist parties including NU. Wahid recalled
that the Government actively disrupted PPP's campaigns by arresting people like
himself. However, Wahid was always able to secure his release, having developed
connections in high places with the likes of General Benny
Moerdani.
Reforming NU
By this time, manyviewed
the NU as a stagnant organization. After careful discussion, the Religious
Advisory Council finally formed a Team of Seven (which included Wahid) to
tackle the issues of reform and to help revitalize the NU. For some members of
the NU, reform in the organization involved a change of leadership. On 2 May
1982, a group of high-ranking NU officials met with NU Chairman IdhamChalid and asked for his
resignation. Idham, who had guided the NU in the transition from Sukarno to Suharto resisted at first but bowed
down to pressure. On 6 May 1982, Wahid heard of Idham's decision to resign and
approached him saying that the demands being made for him to resign were
unconstitutional. With urging from Wahid, Idham withdrew his resignation and
Wahid, together with the Team of Seven was able to negotiate a compromise
between Idham and those who had asked for his resignation.
In 1983, Suharto was
re-elected to a fourth term as President by the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) and began taking steps to establish
the Pancasila state ideology as the
sole basis for all organizations. From June 1983 to October 1983, Wahid was
part of a team which was commissioned to prepare the NU's response to this
issue. Wahid consulted texts such as the Quran and Sunnah for justification and finally, in October
1983, concluded that the NU should accept Pancasila as its ideology. To further
revitalize the NU, Wahid was also successful in securing its withdrawal from
PPP and party politics to allow it focus on social matters instead of hampering
itself by being involved in politics.
Election to Chairmanship
and first term as Chairman
Wahid's reforms had made
him extremely popular within the ranks of NU. By the time of the 1984 National
Congress, many began to state their intentions to nominate Wahid as the new
Chairman of NU. Wahid accepted the nomination, provided that he had the power
to choose who would be on his leadership team. Wahid was elected as the new
Chairman of NU during the National Congress. However, his stipulation of
choosing his own team was not honored. The last day of the Congress had begun
with Wahid's list of team members being approved by high-ranking NU officials
including outgoing Chairman Idham. Wahid had gone to the Committee in charge of
running the Congress and handed in his list which was to be announced later.
However, the Committee in question was against Idham and announced a totally
different list of people. Wahid was outraged but was pressured to accept the
changes made.
Wahid's ascendancy to the
NU Chairmanship was seen positively by Suharto and his New Order regime. Wahid's acceptance of Pancasila
along with his moderate image won him favor among Government ranks. In 1985,
Suharto made Wahid a Pancasila indoctrinator. In 1987, Wahid showed further
support for the regime by criticizing PPP in the lead-up to the 1987
Legislative Elections and further strengthening Suharto's Golkar Party. His reward came in the form of a
membership of the MPR. Although he was viewed with favor by the regime, Wahid
criticised the Government over the KedungOmbo Dam project that was funded by
the World Bank. Although this somewhat
soured the cordial relationships that Wahid had with the Government, Suharto
was still keen on getting political support from NU.
During his first term as
Chairman of NU, Wahid focused on reform of the pesantren education
system and was successful in increasing the quality of pesantren
education system so that it can match up with secular schools. In 1987, Wahid
also set up study groups in Probolinggo, East Java to provide a
forum for like-minded individuals within NU to discuss and provide
interpretations to Muslim texts. Critics accused Wahid of wishing to replace
the Arabic Muslim greeting of
"assalamualaikum" with the secular greeting of "selamatpagi",
which means good morning in Indonesian.
Second term as Chairman
and opposing the New Order
Wahid was re-elected to a
second term as Chairman of NU at the 1989 National Congress. By this time,
Suharto, embroiled in a political battle with ABRI began to ingratiate himself with the
Muslim constituency so as to win their support. This venture reached a turning
point in December 1990 with the formation of the Union of Indonesian
Intellectual Muslims (ICMI). This organization was backed by Suharto, chaired
by BJ Habibie and included Muslim
intellectuals such as AmienRais and NurcholishMadjid as its members. In 1991,
various members of ICMI asked Wahid to join. Wahid declined because he thought
that ICMI encouraged sectarianism and that it was mainly a
means by which Suharto manoeuvred to remain powerful. In 1991, Wahid countered
ICMI by forming the Democracy Forum, an organization which contained of 45
intellectuals from various religious and social communities. The organization
was seen as a threat by the Government which moved to break up meetings held by
the Democracy Forum during the run-up to the 1992 Legislative Elections
approached.
In March 1992, Wahid
planned to have a Great Assembly to celebrate the 66th anniversary of the
founding of NU and to reiterate the organization's support for Pancasila. Wahid
had planned for the event to be attended by at least one million NU members.
However, Suharto moved to block the event, ordering policemen to turn back
busloads of NU members as they arrived in Jakarta. Nevertheless, the event managed
to attract 200,000 attendants. After the event, Wahid wrote a letter of protest
to Suharto saying that NU had not been given a chance to display a brand of
Islam that was open, fair, and tolerant. During his second term as Chairman of
NU, Wahid's liberal ideas had begun to turn many supporters sour. As Chairman,
Wahid continued to push for inter-faith dialogue and even accepted an
invitation to visit Israel in October 1994.
Third term as Chairman
and the lead-up to Reformasi
As the 1994 National
Congress approached, Wahid nominated himself for a third term as Chairman.
Hearing this, Suharto wanted to make sure that Wahid was not elected. In the
weeks leading up to the Congress, Suharto's supporters, such as Habibie and Harmoko campaigned against Wahid's re-election.
When it came time for the National Congress, the site for the Congress was
tightly guarded by ABRI in an act of intimidation. Despite this, and attempts
to bribe NU members to vote against him, Wahid came through and was re-elected
as NU Chairman for a third term. During this term, Wahid began to move closer
towards a political alliance with Megawati
Sukarnoputri from the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI). Capitalizing on her father's
legacy, Megawati had a lot of popularity and intended to put political and
moral pressure on Suharto's regime. Wahid advised Megawati to be cautious and
to avoid being nominated as President during the 1998 MPR General Session.
Megawati ignored this advice and paid the price in July 1996 when her PDI
headquarters were taken over by supporters of Government-backed PDI Chairman,
Suryadi.
Seeing what happened to
Megawati, Wahid thought that his best option now was to retreat politically by
getting himself back in favor with the Government. In November 1996, Wahid and
Suharto met for the first time since Wahid's re-election to the NU Chairmanship
and this was followed over the next few months by meetings with various
Government people who in 1994 had attempted to block Wahid's re-election. At
the same time however, Wahid kept his options for reform open and in December
1996, had a meeting with AmienRais, an ICMI member who had grown critical of
the Regime.
July 1997 saw the
beginning of the Asian
Financial Crisis. Suharto began to lose control of the
situation and just as he was being pushed to step up the reform movement with
Megawati and Amien, Wahid suffered a stroke in January 1998. From his bed in
the hospital, Wahid continued to see the situation worsen with Suharto's
re-election to a seventh term as President and the student protests which would
turn into riots in May 1998 after the killing of four
students at Trisakti
University. On 19 May 1998, Wahid, together with eight prominent
leaders from the Muslim community were summoned to Suharto's residence. Suharto
presented the concept of a Reform Committee which he had begun to propose at
the time. All nine rejected Suharto's offer to join the Reform Committee. Wahid
maintained a more moderate stance with Suharto and called on the protesting to
stop to see if Suharto was going to implement his promise. This displeased
Amien who was the most vocal out of Suharto's opposition at this time.
Nevertheless, there was no stopping Suharto's fall and on 21 May 1998, he
announced his resignation. Vice President Habibie now ascended to the
Presidency.
Reformation
Formation of PKB and the Ciganjur
statement
One of the immediate
effects of Suharto's fall was the formation of new political parties. Under
Suharto's regime, political parties had been limited to just three; Golkar,
PPP, and PDI. Now with his fall, new political parties were formed, the most
prominent of which was Amien'sNational
Mandate Party (PAN) and Megawati's Indonesian
Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P). In June 1998, many from within
the NU community began pressuring Wahid to form a new political party. Wahid
did not warm up to the idea immediately, thinking that this would result in a
political party which only catered to one religion and not willing to overrule
his own decision to take NU out of politics. By July 1998 however, he began to
warm up to the idea, thinking that establishing a political party was the only
way to challenge the organizationally strong Golkar in an election. With that
in mind, Wahid approved of the formation of PKB and became the Chairman of its
Advisory Council with Matori Abdul Djalil as Party Chairman. Although it was
clearly dominated by NU members, Wahid promoted PKB as a party that is
non-sectarian and open to all members of society.
As opposition to the
Government, Wahid, together with Megawati and Amien were willing to adopt a
moderate stance towards Habibie's Government; preferring instead to wait for
the 1999 Legislative Elections. Nevertheless, in November 1998, in a meeting at
his residence in the Jakarta suburb of Ciganjur, Wahid, together with Megawati,
Amien, and Sultan Hamengkubuwono X reiterated their
commitment to Reform. On 7 February 1999, PKB officially declared Wahid as
their Presidential candidate.
1999 elections and MPR
General Session
In June 1999, Wahid's PKB
entered the legislative elections. PKB won 12% of the votes with Megawati's
PDI–P winning the legislative elections with 33% of the votes. With her party
decisively winning the Legislative Elections, Megawati expected to win the
Presidency against Habibie at the MPR General Session. However, PDI-P did not
have complete majority and formed a loose alliance with PKB. In July however, AmienRais would form the Central Axis, a coalition
of Muslim parties. The Central Axis then began to consider nominating Wahid as
a third candidate in the Presidential race and PKB's commitment towards PDI-P
began to waver.
In October 1999, the MPR
convened and Wahid threw his support behind Amien who was elected as the
Chairman of MPR. On 7 October 1999, Amien and the Central Axis, who now had PKB
on their side, officially nominated Wahid as a Presidential Candidate. On 19
October 1999, the MPR rejected Habibie's accountability speech and Habibie
withdrew himself from the Presidential race. In the hours that followed, Akbar Tanjung, Chairman of Golkar and
Head of the People's
Representative Council (DPR) made it clear that Golkar would
support Wahid in his bid for the Presidency. On 20 October 1999, the MPR
convened and began electing for a new President. Wahid was then elected as
Indonesia's fourth President with 373 votes to Megawati's 313 votes.
Displeased that their
candidate had not won the Presidency, Megawati's supporters began to riot and
Wahid realized that for this to stop, Megawati had to be elected as Vice
President. After convincing General Wiranto not to compete in the Vice Presidential
elections and getting the PKB to support Megawati for this election, Wahid was
successful in convincing the demoralized Megawati to compete. On the 21 October
1999, Megawati competed in the Vice Presidential election and defeated PPP's HamzahHaz.
Presidency
Main article: Post-Suharto Era
1999
Wahid's first Cabinet,
dubbed the National
Unity Cabinet, was a Coalition Cabinet which consisted
of members of various political parties: PDI-P, PKB, Golkar, PPP, PAN, and
Justice Party (PK). Non-partisans and the TNI (Formerly known as ABRI) were
also represented in the Cabinet. Wahid then went on to make two administrative
reforms. The first administrative reform was to abolish the Ministry of
Information, the Suharto regime's main weapon in controlling the media while
the second administrative reform was to disband the Ministry of Welfare which
had become corrupt and extortionist under the Suharto regime.
In November, Wahid made
his first overseas trip, visiting ASEAN member countries, Japan, United States of
America, Qatar, Kuwait, and Jordan. He followed this up in December by a
visit to the People's Republic of China.
After only a month in the
National Unity Cabinet, Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare HamzahHaz
announced his resignation in November. There was suspicion that the resignation
was brought about by Wahid's allegation that certain members of his Cabinet
were involved in corruption while he was still in America. Others suggested
that Hamzah's resignation was because of displeasure towards Wahid's
conciliatory stance towards Israel.
Wahid's plan in Aceh was
to give it a referendum. However, this
referendum would be to decide on various modes of autonomy rather than to
decide on independence like in East Timor. Wahid also wanted to adopt a softer
stance towards Aceh by having less military personnel on the ground. On 30
December, Wahid visited Jayapura in the Province which was then known as
Irian Jaya. During his visit, Wahid was successful in convincing West Papuan
leaders that he was a force for change and even encouraged the use of the name
Papua.
2000
In January, Wahid made
another overseas trip to Switzerland to attend the World Economic
Forum
and visited Saudi Arabia on the way back to
Indonesia. In February, Wahid made another trip to Europe visiting the United
Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Germany, and Italy. On the way back to Europe, Wahid also
visited India, South Korea, Thailand, and Brunei. March saw Wahid visit East Timor. In April, Wahid visited
South Africa en route to the G77 summit in Cuba before returning via Mexico City and Hong Kong. In June,
Wahid once again visited America, Japan, and France with Iran, Pakistan, and Egypt as the new additions to the list of
countries which he had visited.
Cabinet dismissals
While he was travelling
to Europe in February, Wahid began asking for the resignation of General Wiranto, who held the position of Coordinating
Minister of Politics and Security. Wahid saw Wiranto both as an obstacle to his
planned reform of the Military as well as being a liability to his Government
with his alleged human rights abuses in East Timor. When Wahid arrived back in
Jakarta, Wiranto talked to him and seemed successful in convincing Wahid not to
replace him. However, Wahid would change his mind and ask for his resignation.
In April 2000, Wahid dismissed Minister of Industry and Trade JusufKalla and Minister of State
Owned Enterprises LaksamanaSukardi. The explanation that he
gave was that the two were involved in corruption, although he never gave
evidence to back it up. This move soured Wahid's relations with Golkar and
PDI-P.
Aceh
In March 2000, Wahid's
Government began to open negotiations with the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM). Two months later, in May, the Government signed a
memorandum
of understanding with GAM to last until the beginning of
2001, by which time both signatories would have breached the agreement.
Other overtures toward
reconciliation
In March 2000, Wahid
suggested that the 1966 Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS)
resolution on the banning of Marxism-Leninism be lifted.
Wahid also moved to
establish commercial relations with Israel, which aroused the ire of many
Indonesian Muslim groups. This was one issue that arose in the briefing given
to a Palestinian parliamentary delegation in 2000 by RiddhiAwad, their ambassador to
Indonesia. Another issue was Wahid's membership in the Shimon Peres Foundation. Both Wahid
and his foreign minister AlwiShihab took offense at the
inaccurate portrayals of the Indonesian President, and Alwi called for the
replacement of Awad. However, NurcholishMadjid pointed out that Wahid's
personal neutrality toward the Israel-Palestine conflict should yield to the
feelings of the "majority" of Indonesians, who support Palestine.
Wahid visited Israel six
times. In an 2004 interview, he said, "I think there is a wrong perception
that Islam is in disagreement with Israel. This is caused by Arab propaganda.
We have to distinguish between Arabs and Islam. Some people in Indonesia
claimed that I was a stooge for the West, but the fact that I am gaining in
popularity all the time dispels this idea, and shows that this is the view of
only a small minority of the elite. I always say that China and the Soviet
Union have or had atheism as part of their constitution, but we have long-term
relationships with both these countries. So then Israel has a reputation as a
nation with a high regard for God and religion — there is then no reason
we have to be against Israel."
Relationship with TNI
When he ascended to the
Presidency, one of Wahid's goals was to reform the military and to take it out
of its dominant socio-political role. In this venture, Wahid found an ally in AgusWirahadikusumah who he made Commander of
Kostrad in March. In July, Agus
began uncovering a scandal involving Dharma Putra, a foundation with
affiliations to Kostrad. Through Megawati, TNI members began pressuring Wahid
to remove Agus. Wahid gave in to the pressure but then planned to have Agus
appointed as the Army Chief of Staff to which TNI top brass responded by
threatening to retire and Wahid once again bowed down to pressure.
Wahid's relationship with
the TNI deteriorated even further when in July it was revealed that Laskar
Jihad had arrived in Maluku and was being armed by the TNI. Laskar
Jihad, a radical Islamic militia had earlier in the year planned to go to
Maluku and assist Muslims there in their communal conflict with the Christians.
Wahid had ordered TNI to block Laskar Jihad from going to Maluku, but
nevertheless they still made it to Maluku and they were then being armed with
what turned out to be TNI weapons.
Buloggate and Bruneigate
2000 saw Wahid embroiled
in two scandals which would damage his Presidency. In May, the State Logistics
Agency (BULOG) reported that US$4 million were missing from its cash
reserve. The missing cash was then attributed to Wahid's own masseur who had
claimed that Wahid sent him to Bulog to collect the cash. Although the money
was returned, Wahid's opponents took the chance of accusing him of being
involved in the scandal and of being aware of what his masseur was up to. At
the same time, Wahid was also accused of keeping US$2 million for himself.
The money was a donation by the Sultan of Brunei to provide assistance in Aceh.
However, Wahid failed to account for the money.
2000 MPR Annual Session
and Cabinet reshuffle
As the 2000 MPR Annual
Session approached, Wahid's popularity with the people was still at a high and
politically, allies such as Megawati, Akbar, and Amien were still willing to
support Wahid despite the sacking of the ministers and the scandals which he
had been involved in. At the same time however, they were asking questions of
Wahid. At the 2000 MPR Annual Session, Wahid delivered a speech which was well
received by a majority of the MPR members. During the speech, Wahid recognized
his weakness as an administrator and said that he was going to delegate the
day-to-day running of the Government to a Senior Minister. The MPR members
agreed but proposed that Megawati should be the one to receive the task from
the President. At first the MPR planned to have this proposal adopted as a
resolution but a Presidential Decision was seen as enough. On the 23 August,
Wahid announced a new Cabinet despite Megawati's insistence that the
announcement was delayed. Megawati showed her displeasure by not showing up for
the Cabinet announcement. The new Cabinet was smaller and consisted of more
non-partisans. There were no Golkar members in this Cabinet. Regional unrest
In September, Wahid
declared martial law in Maluku as the
condition there continued to deteriorate. By now, it was evident that Laskar
Jihad were being assisted by TNI members and it was also apparent that they
were financed by FuadBawazier, the last Minister of Finance to have served
under Suharto. During the same month, the West Papuans raised their Morning
Star flag. Wahid's response was to allow the West Papuans to do this provided
that the Morning Star flag was placed lower than the Indonesian flag. For this,
he was severely criticized by Megawati and Akbar. On 24 December 2000, there
was Terrorist Attack directed against
churches in Jakarta and in eight cities across Indonesia.
Gathering political
opposition
By the end of 2000, there
were many within the political elite who were disillusioned with Wahid. The
most obvious person who showed this disillusion was Amien who showed regret at
supporting Wahid to the Presidency the previous year. Amien also attempted to
rally opposition by encouraging Megawati and Akbar to flex their political
muscles. Megawati surprisingly defended Wahid whilst Akbar preferred to wait
for the 2004 Legislative Elections. At the end of November, 151 DPR members
signed a petition calling for the impeachment of Wahid.
2001 and removal from
power
In January, Wahid made
the announcement that Chinese New Year was to become an optional holiday. Wahid
followed this up in February by lifting the ban on the display of Chinese
characters and the imports of Chinese publications. In February, Wahid visited Northern
Africa as well as Saudi Arabia to undertake the hajj pilgrimage. Wahid made his last overseas
visit in June 2001 when he visited Australia.
At a meeting with
university rectors on 27 January 2001, Wahid commented on the
possibility of Indonesia descending into anarchy. Wahid then made the
suggestion that he may be forced to dissolve the DPR if that happened. Although
the meeting was off-the-record, it caused quite a stir and added to the fuel of
the movement against him. On 1 February, the DPR met to issue a memorandum
against Wahid. Two memorandums constitute an MPR Special Session where the
impeachment and removal of a President would be legal. The vote was
overwhelmingly for the memorandum and PKB members could only walk out in
protest. The memorandum caused widespread protests by NU members. In East Java,
NU members went around to Golkar's regional offices and thrashed it. In Jakarta,
Wahid's opposition began accusing him of encouraging the protests. Wahid denied
it and went to talk to the protesters at the town of Pasuruan; encouraging them to get off the streets.
Nevertheless, NU protesters continued to show their support for Wahid and in
April, made the announcement that they were ready to defend and die for the
President.
In March, Wahid tried to
counter the opposition by moving against dissidents within his own Cabinet.
Minister of Justice YusrilIhzaMahendra was removed for making
public his demands for the President's resignation while Minister of Forestry Nurmahmudi
Ismail
was also removed under the suspicion of channeling his department's funds to
Wahid's opposition. In response to this, Megawati began to distance herself and
did not show up for the inauguration of the Ministers' replacement. On 30
April, the DPR issued a second memorandum and on the next day called for an MPR
Special Session to be held on 1 August.
By July, Wahid grew
desperate and ordered SusiloBambangYudhoyono, the Coordinating
Minister for Politics and Security to declare a State of
Emergency. Yudhoyono refused and Wahid removed him from his
position. Finally on 20 July, Amien declared that the MPR Special Session will
be brought forward to 23 July. TNI, having had a bad relationship with Wahid
through his tenure as President, stationed 40,000 troops in Jakarta and placed
tanks with their turrets pointing at the Presidential Palace in a show of force. On 23 July, the MPR
unanimously voted to impeach Wahid and to replace him with Megawati as
President. Wahid continued to insist that he was the President and stayed for
some days in the Presidential Palace, but eventually left the residence on 25 July
for a trip overseas to the United States for health treatments.
Post Presidency
activities
Schism within the PKB
After his impeachment,
Wahid turned his eyes to Matori Abdul Djalil, who was the Chairman of
PKB. Before the MPR Special Session, it was agreed upon that no PKB members
would attend as a sign of solidarity. However, Matori insisted on attending
because he was a Vice-Chairman of the MPR and participated in the impeachment
process. Using his position as Chairman of the Advisory Council, Wahid sacked
Matori as Chairman of PKB on 15 August 2001 and suspended him from Party
activities before stripping Matori of Party membership in November. On 14
January 2002, Matori held a Special National Congress attended by his
supporters in PKB. The Special National Congress re-elected him to the position
of PKB Chairman. Wahid countered this by holding his own PKB National Congress
on 17 January, a day after Matori's Congress endedThe National Congress
re-elected Wahid to the position of Chairman of the Advisory Council and
elected AlwiShihab as its Chairman. Wahid's
PKB would be known as PKB Kuningan whilst Matori's PKB would be known as PKB
Batutulis.
2004 Legislative and
Presidential elections
In April 2004, PKB
participated in the 2004 Legislative Elections, winning 10.6% of the votes. For
the 2004 Presidential Elections, in which the people directly elected the
President, PKB nominated Wahid as a Presidential Candidate. As a Presidential
Candidate Wahid was required to go for a medical check-up before he was
officially enlisted by the General Elections Commission (KPU) as a Presidential
candidate. While other candidates such as Yudhoyono and Wiranto passed their
respective tests, Wahid failed to do so and KPU refused to enlist him as a
Presidential Candidate. Wahid then threw his support behind his brother,
Solahuddin, who was the running mate of Wiranto. On 5 July 2004, Wiranto and
Solahuddin were knocked out of the race after coming third to the pairs of
Yudhoyono-Kalla and Megawati-Muzadi. For the run-off elections, held on 20
September 2004, Wahid declared himself as part of White Group (Golput) which
meant that he would not be exercising his right to vote.
Opposition to Yudhoyono
Government
In August 2005, Wahid
became one of the leaders of a political coalition called the United Awakened
Archipelago (Koalisi Nusantara BangkitBersatu). Along with Try Sutrisno, Wiranto, Akbar Tanjung,
and Megawati, this coalition criticized the policies of the Yudhoyono
Government, specifically about the withdrawal of fuel subsidies which they
argued would raise the price of fuel.
Other activities
"Gus Dur" is
the inspiration behind the Wahid Institute, a Jakarta-based nonprofit
organization led by his daughter Yenni Wahid. He also served as patron, member
of the board of directors and senior advisor to LibForAll ("Liberty for
All") Foundation, whose mission it is to reduce religious extremism and
discredit terrorism worldwide. Among numerous other writings, he is the author
of a seminal article published in the Wall Street Journal on 30 December 2005
("Right Islam vs. Wrong Islam") in which he called on "people of
good will of every faith and nation" to unite to defeat the ideology of
religious hatred that underlies and animates terrorism. Wahid discussed his
suspicions regarding the involvement of the Indonesian government and the TNI
(Indonesia's armed forces) in the terrorist bombings on Bali, in an interview
in the documentary Inside Indonesia's War on Terrorism which as aired by
SBS Dateline on 12 October 2005.
In September 2006, Wahid
said that he was ready to contest the 2009 Presidential Election He confirmed
this in March 2008, at a rally of his National Awakening Party (PKB) in
Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.
Religious views
Wahid said:
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.
In a 2002 interview with Australian
television program, "Foreign Correspondent", Wahid explained his
respect for Israel and posed a challenging "correction" to be
addressed by his fellow Muslims:
Israel believes in God.
While we have a diplomatic relationship and recognizing diplomatically China
and Russia, which are atheist states, then it's strange that we don't
acknowledge Israel. This is the thing that we have to correct within Islam.
Wahid was also an advocate of interfaith
dialogue during his lifetime and for many years sat on the Board
of World Religious Leaders for The
Elijah Interfaith Institute.
Personal life
Wahid was married to SintaNuriyah with whom he had four
daughters: AlissaQotrunnadaMunawaroh, ZannubaArifahChafsoh (popularly known as Yenny Wahid), AnnitaHayatunnufus,
and InayahWulandari.
Death
In
late December 2009 Wahid asked to be taken to visit Rembang (situated in Central Java) and Jombang despite his
poor health. He had previously been admitted into a hospital just before he
left Jakarta. During his visit to Rembang and Jombang his health worsened and
Wahid was admitted into a hospital in Jombang on 24 December 2009. Following
his return to Jakarta the next day, he was admitted into CiptoMangunkusumo
Hospital in Central Jakarta in order to undergo dialysis. He underwent dental surgery on 28
December after complaining of toothache. Wahid died on 30 December at
approximately 6:45 p.m. local time (UTC+7) after his condition deteriorated because
of complications from kidney disorders, heart disease and diabetes. President SusiloBambangYudhoyono visited Wahid shortly
before his death. A state funeral was held for Wahid on 31
December, and flags were flown at half-staff for seven days. He was
buried next to the graves of his grandfather and parents at his birthplace,
Jombang, East Java.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdurrahman_Wahid
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