"Gus Dur Should Admit his Mistakes"
After catching the first flight from Yogyakarta in the middle of last week, Minister of Defense Mohammad Mahfud Mahmuddin hurried straight to his office on Jalan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta. There he got to grips with preparing President Abdurrahman Wahid's reply to the memorandum sent to him by the House of Representatives (DPR) a few weeks ago. Mahfud is a member of the team formulating the response that will be scrutinized by the House.
March 20, 2001
That day Mahfud had been busy serving as a member of the team assessing candidates for the law doctorate course at the Indonesian Islamic University (UII), Yogyakarta where he is a lecturer. He did not completely abandon his academic activities when he became a minister.
Mahfud's world was one of academic debates and the calm of a university campus until his life changed dramatically. Last August, President Abdurrahman appointed him defense minis
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