Abdurrahman Wahid, byname Gus Dur (born Sept. 7, 1940, Denanyar, East Java, Dutch East Indies [now Indonesia]—died Dec. 30, 2009, Jakarta, Indon.) Indonesian Muslim religious leader and politician who was president of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001.
Abdurrahman Wahid at a mass prayer rally, 2001.Paula Bronstein—Newsmakers/Getty Images
Wahid’s grandfathers were among the founders of the world’s largest Islamic organization, the 25-million-member Nahdatul Ulama (NU). Wahid studied the Qurʾān intensively at an East Javan pesantren
(religious boarding school) founded by his paternal grandfather, Hasyim
Asyʾari, and at institutes in Jakarta when his father was Indonesia’s
first cabinet minister for religion. In 1965 Wahid earned a scholarship to study at the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, but he bristled against the traditionalism of its faculty, and, instead of studying more scripture, he devoured New Wave movies, read French and English books, and studied Marxism. Leaving without taking a degree, he moved to Baghdad, where he soon began attracting attention with his religious writings.
After
returning to Indonesia in the late 1960s, Wahid became a scholar. He
was elevated to the post of general chairman of the NU in 1984. The
organization then severed its ties to a Muslim-based political party and
concentrated on social work and education. The managers of 6,500 pesantren
nationwide—the backbone of the NU’s support—opposed any antigovernment
moves. Wahid was nonetheless widely perceived to present a threat to
political authority for his promotion of a vision for the NU that would,
in his words, “move toward the transformation of society, socially and
culturally.”
As NU chief, Wahid was one of the most respected figures in Indonesian Islam
and the most politically active. He headed the political discussion
group Forum Demokrasi, which welcomed dissidents and human rights
advocates. Wahid spoke frankly on national issues to ministers,
diplomats, journalists, and others who consulted him. Deviating from the
positions held by the leaders of many Muslim countries, he suggested
normalizing ties with Israel and contended that the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina was not religious. Many admired his defense of Indonesia’s Christian
minority. Even the powerful military was keen to maintain good ties to a
perceived bulwark against radical Islam. Honoured in 1993 with the
Magsaysay Award, Wahid was elected the following year to lead the World
Council for Religion and Peace.
In 1990 Wahid declined to join the new Association of Muslim Intellectuals, accusing its chairman, B.J. Habibie, protégé of President Suharto
and the country’s research and technology minister, of using Islam to
gain power. Critics and even relatives conceded, however, that Wahid
could not separate his own political stance from NU’s needs. In 1994 Suharto
loyalists within the NU tried in vain to end Wahid’s chairmanship. In
the wake of the Asian economic crisis (1997–98) that forced the
resignations of Suharto and his successor Habibie, Wahid was elected
president in 1999. He was the first candidate to win the presidency
through a vote by the People’s Consultative Assembly
(Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat; MPR), as opposed to the earlier,
consensus-seeking process. Economic and political instability, coupled
with a corruption crisis in which Wahid himself was implicated, led to
his impeachment and removal from office in 2001. After leaving office, Wahid encouraged interfaith dialogue for the promotion of world peace.
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