ABDURRAHMAN WAHID: Muslim Democrat, Indonesian President

Abstract

Drakeley reviews ABDURRAHMAN WAHID: Muslim Democrat, Indonesian President by Greg Barton.

ABDURRAHMAN WAHID: Muslim Democrat, Indonesian President. By Greg Barton. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 2002. 414pp. US$19.95, paper. ISBN0-8248-2622-1.

Abdurrahman Wahid (popularly known as Gus Dur), former controversial president of Indonesia and former long-serving leader of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the world's largest Muslim organization, renowned as a political and religious reformer and as a public intellectual and social commentator, is a more than fitting subject for a biography. Abdurrahman, beloved by millions and the bane of his opponents, is an enormously important figure in contemporary Indonesia and thus a better understanding of him can only facilitate a fuller understanding of the world's third largest nation. That he is also well known, if not infamous (especially in Indonesia), for his eccentricities, his humour and his outspokenness is a spicy bonus for his biographer and for the book's readership.

As a leading scholar of contemporary Indonesia, with particular reference to traditionalist Islam and Islamic liberalism, Barton is eminently qualified to provide this important biography. His expertise enables him to offer a sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the unique social background and the historical context that interacted to contribute to the shaping of Abdurrahman and his outlook. As a result, readers are provided with a rare entrée into the traditionalist Muslim world of the NU and its place in Indonesian society. Moreover, few are better placed than Barton to understand and explain the theological dimensions of Abdurrahman's thinking and his religious reform efforts and their connections with his career as a social and political reformer. This is important because Abdurrahman's profound influence over NU and the direction of Islamic thought in Indonesia, and therefore the direction of Indonesian society, may well prove to be his most important achievement.

Barton was also particularly well placed to produce this account of Abdurrahman's life and career because, as a close personal friend, he enjoyed a level of access the envy of most biographers. he is able to draw upon years of intimate conversations as well as formal interviews when offering insights into Abdurrahman's thinking and actions. Moreover, he was a witness to a number of important events, including many from the 21 months of Abdurrahman's troubled presidency. But herein also lies the biography's principal weakness: Barton's account is overly sympathetic to Abdurrahman. Though not totally lacking in objectivity, Abdurrahman's actions, including his political zigzags, mistakes and failures are generally cast in the best possible light. This weakness is most striking in the chapters !dealing with Abdurrahman's presidency, which often read more like apologia than critical biography. But Barton from the outset acknowledges that he has provided an unconventional and subjective account, one that "deliberately focuses on the subject's own account" (p. 1) so at least the reader is forewarned and thus forearmed against this tendency.

This book does have flaws, but paradoxically the flaw that lies at the heart of the book, the author's subjectivity, is in some respects intrinsic to the book's particular and considerable value. This is not the definitive study of Abdurrahman, certainly not of his political career. More critical assessments are required and more sources need to be tapped in order to provide a fuller and more balanced account. Nevertheless, all with a serious interest in contemporary Indonesian politics and society ought to read this book. It is a major contribution to an important subject.