Former President Abdurahman Wahid Dies

Former President Abdurahman Wahid, A Friend Of Papuans, Couped By The Military, Dies

Abdurrahman Wahid, better known as Gus Dur, died on December 30. Gus Dur was unique among Indonesian leaders, personally generous, self-effacing and prepared to act on behalf of those who were victims of the policies of the Suharto dictatorship and its military. Though long a member of Indonesia's political elite, he mocked it for its self pretention and corruption. He was also courageous. During his presidency (October 1999 to July 2001) he sought to reduce the power of the military over Indonesia's political life. He fired the military chief General Wiranto who was later indicted by a UN-supported panel in East Timor for war crimes for his leadership role in the massacres which the military and its militias carried out in East Timor. The military exacted its revenge: in 2001, seizing the opportunity afforded it by a political crisis between the Parliament and President Wahid over corruption allegations (never proven), the military ringed the Presidential palace with tanks, guns facing inward. The President fired then Security Minister Yudhoyono for refusing to declare a state of emergency, but to no avail. President Wahid became the second president after President Sukarno to fall to the pressure of the Indonesian military.

Papuans will remember Gus Dur as the only senior Indonesian political figure to befrend them. In a highly symbolic gesture, he celebrated the new millennium, the 21st century, in West Papua. After meeting with West Papuan leaders, including Theys Eluay and Tom Beanal, the President issued a formal decree changing the official name of the province from “Irian Jaya” to “Papua.” Irian Jaya was the name Suharto imposed after the Indonesia's coercive annexation of the region. The following June, President Wahid acknowledged the right of Papuans to use their traditional symbols including their flag, the Morning Star/Kejora flag, insisting only that it be flown in conjunction with the Indonesian flag. In a gesture that had both symbolic and real meaning, he made a substantial, personal financial contribution to the Second Papuan Conference which convened May-June 2000. That meeting, attended by thousands of Papuans, set in motion the current peaceful struggle by Papuans for their fundamental human rights. As a private citizen, Gus Dur also gave support to Papuans' calls for a dialogue with Jakarta over Papuans many outstanding grievances.

More than any other Indonesian political figure Gus Dur bequeathed to the people of the archipelago the vision of a future in which democracy reigns and human rights are respected.

ENDS

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