About
Abdurrahman Wahid, known as Gus Dur, was born on September 7, 1940, in Jombang, East Java. Son of Wahid Hasyim, a founder of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), he studied at Al-Azhar University in Cairo and the University of Baghdad. In 1984, he was elected general chairman of NU, serving until 1999. He became the fourth president of Indonesia in October 1999, the country's first democratically elected president, but was impeached in July 2001. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1993 and founded the Wahid Institute in 2004. He died on December 30, 2009, in Jakarta.
* 1940-09-07 — † 2009-12-28
Key milestones
- 1984Elected general chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, the world's largest Islamic organization.
- 1999Becomes the fourth president of Indonesia, the country's first democratically elected president.
- 2004Founded the Wahid Institute to promote moderate Islamic thought and pluralism.
Themes
Religious pluralismInterfaith dialogueDemocracyHuman rightsModerate Islam
Sources: id.loc.gov · kepustakaan-presiden.perpusnas.go.id · wahidinstitute.org