“Gus Gur on Religion, Democracy, and Peace” edited by Hairus Salim HS
KH Abdurrahman Wahid, or more fondly nicknamed Gus Dur, was Indonesia’s 4th president that ruled during the turbulent political era of post-Suharto reformation (1999-2001). He was the grandson of the founder of Nahdlatul Ulama (the largest Islamic organization in the world) and later its leader, who was famous for preaching tolerance.
As an Indonesian president he dismantled the strongholds of 32-years-dictator Suharto, such as the presence of the military in parliament, Suharto’s propaganda ministry, and the power of some Suharto loyalists, among many others (all of which would backfire later). And perhaps most crucially, Gus Dur also opened up the country to all religion including the re-embracing of Chinese religion Confucius and many different interpretation of Islam.
He had this laid back mannerism in him, with lots of wits and jokes, despite famous for being a scholar and an intellectual who loves to read a wide range of books. He also became partially blind at the age of 45, hence the added mysticism towards this enigmatic figure.
This book is the diligent collection of his best of the best thinking, divided into 13 selected essays (out of hundreds) that truly represent Gus Dur’s thinking:
- The Muslim masses in the life of the nation and of the state.
- Is there a concept of an Islamic State?
- Islam and Pancasila: Development of a religious political doctrine in Indonesia.
- Religion and democracy.
- Islam, culture, and indigenization.
- Is Arabization the same with Islamization? (My favourite essay)
- Religion and the challenge of culture.
- The universalism of Islam and cosmopolitanism of Islamic civilization.
- The revival of Islamic civilization: Is it happening?
- In search of a novel perspective on human rights enforcement.
- The republic of Earth on heaven: Another side of religious motive within the people’s movement.
- Justice and reconciliation.
- Islam, anti-violence, and national transformation.
The subject matters cover what Gus Dur is expert on: religion (as a scholar and leader of an Islamic organization), democracy (as the president of Indonesia in the transition between Suharto’s dictatorship and democracy), and peace (one of the things that made him famous for, peace and tolerance).
On the latter, his opening up to many different interpretations of Islam has unfortunately also brought back hardliners to the country. Although in fairness to him he did write extensively about the danger of the spread of “transnational Islam” (aka Wahhabism) in Indonesia, just before he passed away in 2009. This was years before it got to alarming levels, especially the politicization of Islam in order to gain power, which is one of the core problems that Indonesia is facing today since 2017.
The book has a phenomenal introduction by its editor, Hairus Salim HS, that provides an excellent context on Gus Dur’s background: from his time at pesantren (Islamic boarding school) to studying in Egypt and Baghdad, to making his name in Jakarta’s intellectual scene as an open minded person with a cosmopolite attitude.
As Hairus remarks, “from the background of coming from a pesantren family, a grandfather who found Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) one of the biggest Islamic organization in Indonesia, a father who became one of Indonesia’s founding fathers, an ancestry connected to rulers of olden Java [his family genealogy was connected to King Brawijaya IV, a ruler of Java on the 15th century], and his readings and modern associated, had formed Gus Dur as a complex and paradoxical man.”
Hairus then dived deep into further explanation on Gus Dur’s origins of thoughts, which covers the traditional Islamic thinking vs the reformation that Gus Dur is teaching, complete with the background arguments (such as Arabization vs Indigenization) and the judgement processes within the council of scholars that will appear more in the 13 essays.
Note that Gus Dur is often placed by scholars as one of Indonesia’s neo-modernism scholar, which means an intellectual movement that reprocesses Islam modernism with combination of actual appreciation towards rich classical traditions. Hence, the importance of this context about his thinking cannot be highlighted enough, a fitting introduction before we read the essays.
All in all, this is one of the most important books about the history and intellectual foundation of Indonesia. Reading them not only gives new insights about the country and the great man himself, but it also gives me the nostalgic feeling about the Indonesia that I grew up in, Gus Dur’s Indonesia.
And although he only ruled for less than 2 years (he was impeached by the People’s Consultative Assembly using bogus corruption charges that have since been proven false), his policies are still imprinted in the DNA of the country even today. And there’s no better English-language book that can capture this essence than this one. Such an important read.
THE CHAOS THEORY 