Gus Dur

After his arrival from roaming over the Middle East universities, Gus Dur stayed in Jombang and decided to be a teacher. In 1971, this young figure joined at Faculty of Ushuluddin in Tebu Ireng University, Jombang. Three years later he was assigned as secretary to Tebu Ireng pondok pesantren (Islamic Boarding School), and at the same period he began to write. He again occupied himself with the field of writing and being columnist. His thoughts, through the articles he wrote, began to attract more people’s attention.

Djohan Efendi, a prominent scholar of the era, regarded Gus Dur as a good digester who digested all thoughts and information he read, and absorbed them into his mind, and finally, thought them out again as his own authentic thoughts. That is why, according to Djohan, Gus Dur rarely put footnotes in his articles.

When he was secretary to Tebu Ireng Islamic Boarding School, Gus Dur was frequently invited to speak in discussions on the subject of religion and ‘pesantren’ both in the country and in overseas forums. The next years, Gus Dur involved himself in non-governmental organization’s works. Firstly he joined LP3ES along with Dawam Rahardjo, Aswab Mahasin, and Adi Sasono in the pesantren development project until he founded P3M under the sponsorship of LP3ES.

In 1979, Gus Dur moved to Jakarta where he founded Pesantren Ciganjur. Gus Dur was entrusted to chair the post of ‘deputy ‘khatib’ of ‘syuriah’ in NU Central Board (PBNU) in 1980. His wide interaction with scholars from different religious, ethnic, and academic backgrounds began in this period. He was intensively involved in serious discussions on religion, social, and politics with them. His works in those fields intensified.

“A chain of Gus Dur’s career” which many consider as a deviation in his capacity as religious leader was his appointment in 1983 as Chief of the Jakarta Arts Board (DKJ). In the period of 1986-1987, he was also assigned to lead a team of juries of Indonesian Movie Festival (FFI).

In 1984, however, a team of NU Central Board’s “Ahl hall wa al aqdi” led by K.H. As’ad Syamsul Arifin elected Gus Dur by acclamation as NU Chairman during NU’s 27th Congress in Situbondo, East Java. He was reelected for another two terms until his resignation from the top post of NU Central Board in 1999 after he was elected the fourth President of Republic of Indonesia.

Being a president had not changed much his tendency to come up with controversial ideas. On the contrary, more people become aware of the controversy he makes. Before being president, only certain people especially NU followers who learnt his controversial ideas and thoughts, but now all people of Indonesia know it.

Gus Dur’s another career in the period of 1991 to 1999 which is important to be taken in this section is being head of Democracy Forum with its members mostly from those of nationalist and non-Muslim activists. In contrast, Gus Dur refused to join the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectual (ICMI) which he, even, accused of being sectarian.

The narrative above makes clearer how complicated and knotty Gus Dur’s way in going through his life. He meets many people with various ideological, political, cultural, and social backgrounds as well as those with different ideas. From the view of religious understanding and ideology, Gus Dur has also experienced a complex ways; traditional thought, ‘ideologist,’ fundamentalism, modernism, and secular one. Regarding cultural background, he has gone through both the Eastern culture with its courtesy and introverted tradition and the Western culture with its extrovert, modern and liberal customs. He has interacted with various scholars too, from those of conservative and orthodox to those of liberal and radical background.

Gus Dur’s thought on religion is much influenced by pondok pesantren with its traditional ethics, formality, and rigid hierarchy. Meanwhile, his roaming over the Middle East has introduced various thoughts on religion in him, from conservative, symbolic-fundamentalist, to liberal-radical thoughts. Gus Dur’s thought on humanism has been much influenced by Western philosophers’ thoughts. However, several kyai, who teaches and guides him, have significantly contributed to Gus Dur’s humanist attitude and thought. The also learns humanism from the story about Kyai Fatah from Tambak Beras, K.H. Ali Ma’shum from Krapyak, and Kyai Chudhori from Tegalrejo.

Culturally, Gus Dur has lived through three models of cultural layers. Firstly, the culture of Pesantren which is hierarchical, introverted, and full of ethics and formality. Secondly, the culture layer of the East world which is open and harsh. And the third layer is the liberal, secular, and rational culture of the West. All of them seem to have been internalized in Gus Dur’s mind as a synergy. None of them appears to be more dominant than the others in building his personality and thought. They all have always been in intensive dialogue in his inner mind. This is why Gus Dur is always dynamic, and on the other hand, difficult to be understood. His freedom of thinking and his broad knowledge are beyond the traditional boundaries of his own community.