Abdurrahman Wahid, << AHB duhr RAHK mahn wah HEED >> (1940-2009), served as president of Indonesia from October 1999 to July 2001. Throughout his presidency, Abdurrahman was accused of corruption and incompetence, and he gradually lost the support of the nation’s political and military leaders. Indonesia’s parliament voted Abdurrahman out of office, and Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri then became president.
In 1999, Abdurrahman headed the National Awakening Party and an alliance of other Islamic parties. He defeated Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesia’s founding president, Sukarno, for the presidency. In elections held in June 1999, Megawati’s party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), won the most seats in the House of Representatives, Indonesia’s legislature. But the People’s Consultative Assembly, Indonesia’s highest governing body, elected Abdurrahman as president instead. It later chose Megawati to be vice president. Both Abdurrahman and Megawati had opposed the rule of President Suharto, who resigned in 1998 after dominating Indonesian politics for more than 30 years.
Abdurrahman faced a number of problems as president. Encouraged by the Indonesian government’s decision to grant independence to East Timor, groups in the regions of Aceh and Irian Jaya (now Papua) renewed their calls for independence from Indonesia. In addition, Christians and Muslims engaged in a series of bloody clashes in the Molucca Islands. In August 2000, in response to criticism of his administration, Abdurrahman announced he would transfer some of his duties for managing the day-to-day operations of the government to Vice President Megawati.
Abdurrahman also faced charges of corruption related to two financial schemes. The charges, combined with concerns about his handling of the country’s problems, led to popular protests against him. Early in 2001, Indonesia’s parliament voted to censure (formally express disapproval of) the president for his role in the schemes. In May 2001, Indonesia’s attorney general cleared Abdurrahman of any wrongdoing in the two corruption cases. However, the People’s Consultative Assembly continued efforts to oust Abdurrahman. He, in turn, threatened to disband the Assembly. Abdurrahman lost support among the nation’s political and military leaders, and the Assembly voted him out of office in July.
Abdurrahman was a Muslim clergyman and scholar known for his moderate views. Indonesians sometimes refer to him by the nickname Gus Dur, which combines an honorific title with a shortening of his name. A stroke in 1998 left him nearly blind.
Abdurrahman was born on Aug. 4, 1940, to an influential Muslim family in Jombang, in eastern Java. He studied at al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, and at the University of Baghdad in Iraq. From 1972 to 1974, he served as dean of the faculty of theology at Hasyim Asyari University in Jombang. From 1974 to 1980, he was secretary-general of an Islamic boarding school in Jombang. In 1979, Abdurrahman was chosen as first secretary of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization. In 1984, he became its chairman. Abdurrahman died in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, on Dec. 30, 2009.
