Gus Dur and the Nation’s Problems

KOMPAS/LASTI KURNIA

Alim (wearing Santa’s cap), 30, a resident of Tangerang, attends the 7th anniversary of the death of cleric and former president K.H. Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid at his estate on Feb. 23, 2016 in Ciganjur, Jakarta. Alim said at the time that it was not the first occasion that he had worn the hat to the event, and that he had worn it for the past three years as a symbol of tolerance.

Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid departed us nine years ago, but the memory of his unparalleled personality remains alive in all of us. In our collective memory, Gus Dur was a man of many attributes: an ordinary man and a humorist, a Muslim activist who often drew controversy and an intellectual, and a humanitarian statesman and cleric.

In the tradition of semiotics, Gus Dur would be a manuscript filled with many symbols to be defined.