http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/16amy/Article/index_html
AMY CHEW
Gus Dur's pluralist Islam takes root
2010/02/03
The late Indonesian president and ulama Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur, was a
great protector of minorities who taught his followers to respect and accept
others, regardless of race and religion, writes AMY CHEW
TAHRIR Square is the most famous public square in Baghdad. It is also one of
the most bombed-out areas in Iraq. The late Indonesian president and ulama
Abdurrahman Wahid knew the square well, having committed it to memory from
his days as a student at the University of Baghdad.
Wahid, fondly known as Gus Dur, lived in Iraq from 1966 to 1970, where he
studied Islamic literature. As a struggling student, he worked part-time for
a textile company owned by a Jewish man to earn some extra money.
On Jan 27, 1969, his Jewish boss asked Gus Dur to accompany him to Tahrir
Square, which was just steps away from the office.
On that day, nine Iraqi Jews were hanged at the square. They were convicted
on charges of spying for Israel. Their deaths were part of a persecution of
the tiny Jewish community that started around 1941.
Upon seeing the bodies, Gus Dur's boss broke down and cried, for the dead
men were his friends.
"That event left a very deep impact on my father," recounted Yenny Wahid,
Gus Dur's second daughter.
"They were victims of politics and a policy of hatred. On that day, my
father vowed he would protect minority people for as long as he lived."
Gus Dur taught his followers to respect and accept others at all times,
regardless of race and religion, as all men were God's creation. He also
explained the Jewish faith and their people to Muslims.
In 1994, Gus Dur broke new ground when he visited Israel. He also called
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad a "liar" for denying the Holocaust.
And Gus Dur led by example. In 2004, when extremist Muslims built a wall
around the Sang Timur Catholic school in Tangerang, Jakarta, to stop
students from entering, Gus Dur intervened. He ordered 100 of his followers
to safeguard the school and went to the school himself.
"If anyone wants to fight, they will have to face me first," Gus Dur said in
the school's compound. The local authorities hastily tore down the wall.
The Sang Timur incident was just one instance of Gus Dur's defence of the
defenceless.
"Gus Dur has done so much for minorities," said Theo Bela, secretary-general
for Indonesia Committee of Religious Peace.
"In the past, he saved so many churches from being burnt, including the
priests inside them," Belo added.
Humorous, brilliant and eccentric, Gus Dur led the country's largest Muslim
organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), for 15 years before becoming president
in 1999.
With an estimated 40 million members, NU practices a moderate, syncretic
form of Islam, assimilating Hinduism and local beliefs.
The seeds of a pluralist Islam that Gus Dur planted grow deep in the hearts
of his followers.
One of them died living out his teachings in 2000. It was Christmas Eve that
year in the town of Mojokerto, East Java. Churches were getting bomb
threats. The churches turned to NU for help. Members of its famous youth
wing, Banser, were sent to guard them.
Riyanto, then 25, was a Banser member. On Christmas Eve, he volunteered to
guard the Eben Haezer Church. Across the narrow street from the church was a
shop with a pay phone next to it.
While on guard, the volunteers saw an abandoned package at the pay phone.
They reported it to the police, who told them it was a bomb and evacuated
the area.
But Riyanto refused to leave. Instead, he grabbed the package and tried to
move it as far away as possible from the church.
He ran towards a reinforced drainage ditch on the other side of the shop. He
never made it. The package exploded in his hands, hurtling his body into the
air and over the church, falling through the roof of a nearby house.
That night, 38 bombs exploded in 11 cities across Indonesia , killing 19
people and wounding 120.
Gus Dur visited Riyanto's home and declared him a "hero".
"My father said that was real jihad. He said Riyanto was a hero for
humanity," recalled Yenny, who is executive director of the Wahid Institute,
a think tank for pluralist Islam.
"We set up a scholarship for middle and high school students and named it
after Riyanto."
Gus Dur was born on Sept 7, 1940 into a family of ulama in Jombang, East
Java. In East Java, telling jokes was a way of life. It's no surprise that
it produced a unique ulama like Gus Dur, who was more often heard telling
jokes than preaching.
Many believed Gus Dur spread his teachings of pluralist Islam very
effectively because he was good at telling jokes that contained the essence
of his values.
When his fellow religious leaders visited him during his presidency, Gus Dur
told them there was no guarantee they would be the first to be allowed into
heaven.
"On the contrary, the chance to enter heaven would be given to all of
Jakarta's bus drivers because the moment they start driving, people would
start praying," relates Gus Dur's youngest brother, Hasyim Wahid, of his
brother's words.
When Gus Dur's death on Dec 30 became known to the public, a text message
was sent out by a Chinese Indonesian: "Who will be our protector now? Will
anyone continue his work?"
"Millions," responded a Gus Dur student, Zuhairi Misrawi, chairman of the
Moderate Muslim Society.
"Gus Dur's teachings have become part of our culture, our politics, our
democracy," he said. "It is institutionalised, it is massive and cannot be
stopped."
The writer is NST Jakarta correspondent
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
