The Conqueror from Tebuireng

This opponent of religious inflexibility and last bastion to guard the rights of oppressed minorities has passed away. Wahyu Muryadi, the executive editor of this magazine, who accompanied Gus Dur as the Head of the Protocol Bureau at the Presidential Palace, talks about this fourth Indonesian president whom he knew so well.

January 5, 2010

LOOKING at his face, I thought he was just sleeping a bit, which was his custom when riding in a car which took him around to Islamic boarding schools or over unpaved roads to remote villages. However, this was not the case today. Thousands made religious invocations, choked on tears, waited for hours from dawn, withstanding the heat from the sky over Tebuireng.

I don’t want to wake you, Gus, as I used to do before this. But take a look, Gus,

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