Abdurrahman Wahid
on Really Out There Experience (Indonesia), 17/Jan/2010 10:50, 34 days ago
Sometime over New Year Abdurrahman Wahid died aged 69 years.Wahid, or Gus Dur as he was also known, was part of a prominent and politically active Muslim family. He initially worked as a teacher and rose to be a headmaster before receiving a scholarship to study inCairothen later studied inBaghdadandHolland. He returned toIndonesiain 1971 and worked as a journalist. In the late 1970s he became actively involved in Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation that his grandfather had founded becoming chairman in 1984. Following the fall of President Suharto in 1998 he formed the National Awakening Party (PKB) and was officially declared a presidential candidate in February 1999; being declared president in October of that year; even though his party had lost the parliamentary elections. He was seen as a reformer and democrat but the transition to democracy was not easy. He did curb the influence of the military, released political prisoners and liberalisation of Chinese culture an religious expression. The coalition began to turn against him and ultimately his presidency collapsed following unproved allegations of corruption. He was impeached in July 2001 and replaced by his deputy, Magawati Sukarnoputri. All public buildings were flying flags at half mast for many days and several private residencies erected flag poles specifically for this.