4th President of Indonesia
In office 20 October 1999 – 23 July 2001
Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri
Preceded by Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie
Succeeded by Megawati Sukarnoputri
Personal details
Birth date September 7, 1940
Birth place Jombang, East Java,Indonesia
Died 30 December 2009 (aged 69) Jakarta, Indonesia
Resting place Jombang, East Java, Indonesia
Political party National Awakening Party
Spouse(s) Shinta Nuriyah
Father: K. H. Wahid Hasyim
Mother: Ny. Hj. Sholehah
Profession Religious Leader, Politician
Religion Islam
Website www.gusdur.net
Biography
Abdurrahman Wahid, born Abdurrahman Addakhil, colloquially known as About this sound 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 Nahdlatul Ulama 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 derifed 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.
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 Hamzah Haz 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
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 Yusril Ihza Mahendra 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 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 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 ended The National Congress re-elected Wahid to the position of Chairman of the Advisory Council and elected Alwi Shihab as its Chairman. Wahid's PKB would be known as PKB Kuningan whilst Matori's PKB would be known as PKB Batutulis.
Opposition to Yudhoyono Government
In August 2005, Wahid became one of the leaders of a political coalition called the United Awakened Archipelago (Koalisi Nusantara Bangkit Bersatu). 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 Sinta Nuriyah with whom he had four daughters: Alissa Qotrunnada Munawaroh, Zannuba Arifah Chafsoh (popularly known as Yenny Wahid), Annita Hayatunnufus, and Inayah Wulandari.
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 Cipto Mangunkusumo 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 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 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. (Source Wikipedia)
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