Australia owes a debt to Gus Dur
Andrew
gratitude-to-indonesias-accidental-president/story-e6frg6zo-1225815349482
Australia owes a debt of gratitude to Indonesia's accidental president
- Greg Barton
January 02, 2010 12:00AM
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AUSTRALIA lost one of its best friends in Southeast Asia with the passing
of former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid on Wednesday. A
controversial figure, particularly as president, Wahid was nevertheless
loved and admired by tens of millions.
Most Australians who worked closely with Indonesia in the latter part of the
Suharto period and the transitional years that followed Suharto's May 1998
resignation felt deep affection for Wahid. This was consolidated by his
state visit to Australia in June 2001, in the last days of his presidency.
Although by this time it seemed almost inevitable that he would be voted out
of office by Indonesia's newly bellicose parliament, as indeed did happen a
month later, his visit, the first by an Indonesian president since 1972, was
widely regarded as a great success.
Like his presidency, the visit was big on symbolism and genuine sentiment
rather than policy substance. It was hardly his first visit as he was a
regular guest of Australian universities and other institutions where he had
been admired for decades as a progressive Islamic intellectual and as one of
Indonesia's leading dissidents. He had many close friends in Australia and
genuinely liked Australians for their informal demeanor and their engagement
with the region. He disliked pretension, appreciated good humour,
particularly when it was self-deprecating, and admired frankness.
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