Azyumardi Azra: An Independent Intellectual

In Ciputat, in the early 1980s, due to his talent as a thinker, I listed Azyumardi's name as an article writer for the Kompas daily. Since 1978, I have been a writer for this big daily.

KOMPAS/REGINA RUKMORINI

Azyumardi Azra

Several days after Princess Diana's burial, in July 1997, Azyumardi Azra and I arrived in London. Bahtiar Effendy, from Amsterdam, came to join us the day after. After a discussion about Indonesian Islam (in which Azyumardi was the star), Bahtiar and I left for Mecca from London for Umrah (minor pilgrimage). Azyumardi returned to Jakarta. Azyumardi and Bahtiar later became professors, the first in Southeast Asian Islamic history and the second in politics. Both are now gone.

Prior to our discussion, this great historian showed me a dissertation.