HONG KONG -- By conventional measures he was the least successful president Indonesia has had, bundled out of office in 2001 after 21 months. But Abdurrahman Wahid, who died last week at 69, has left a deep and positive imprint on his country and a liberal legacy that is an example to Muslim nations the world over. Better known by his nickname, Gus...
Abdurrahman Wahid, the eccentric, nearly blind Muslim cleric who served for almost two turbulent years as Indonesia's president, championing a tolerant brand of Islam, died on Wednesday in Jakarta at the age of 69. He had suffered for years with kidney problems and the aftereffects of strokes and had been forced to use a wheelchair. He died during...
It was the place to be seen over the weekend, the hospital bedside of Indonesia's former strongman, Suharto, who was driven from office 10 years ago and is now hovering near death as his heart and kidneys weaken. The president, the vice president, a former president and a small parade of the country's power elite came to pay their respects. They...
Abdurrahman Wahid (7. september 1940 - 30. december 2009) var en indonesisk politiker. Han var landets præsident fra 1999 til 2001.
Wahids bedstefar var omkring 1900 en kendt muslimsk leder. Faren var i 1945 religionsminister i den første regeringen til Achmed Sukarno. Wahid studerede islamsk ret, arabistik og litteratur i Kairo og Bagdad. I 1971 vendte han tilbage til Indonesien.
I Indonesien engagerede han sig i organisationen Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), en islamsk organisation med over 30 millioner medlemmer, stiftet af Wahids bedstefar. Han blev leder i NU i 1984. I april 1991 grundlagde han partiet Demokratisk Forum, i opposition til præsident Suharto. I juli 1998 grundlagde han Partiet for national vækkelse (PKB), som blev det tredjestørste parti under parlamentsvalget i 1999.
20. oktober 1999 blev han overraskende valgt til ny præsident af folkeforsamlingen. Han fik 371 stemmer, mens vinderen af parlamentsvalget, Megawati Sukarnoputri, kun fik 313 stemmer. Dermed blev han Indonesiens første frit valgte præsident. Fold ud