PALEMBANG. Sunday afternoon, 19 April 1953. Sayyid Abdullah Gathmyr, a local ulema (Islamic scholar), was in the middle of reading a letter from the executive board of Nahdlatul Ulama when the telephone in the front room of his home rang. It was his older brother, telling him the breaking news from the state-run radio station, Radio Republik Indonesia. KH Wahid Hasyim had died in an automobile accident.

Abdullah was shocked; his hand quickly tur