Gus Dur Chooses Golput During The Presidential Election In Today's Memory, May 29, 2004

JAKARTA Memori hari ini, 19 tahun yang lalu, 29 Mei 2004, mantan Presiden Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) membuat gempar. Ia mengumumkan Partainya, Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (PKB) mendukung pasangan Capres Wiranto- Salahuddin Wahid. Namun, Gus Dur sendiri memilih untuk golput dan berada di luar sistem dalam Pilpres 2004.

Previously, Gus Dur's presence was able to bring a new color to Indonesia's political map. He is not only known for being humorous, but also brave. Even though his courage is often considered controversial and makes a stir.

Gus Dur's Nyali in defending the lives of many people is second to none. He started long ago. In fact, before he became Indonesia's number one person. Gus Dur, who in fact is a Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) figure, dared to choose to oppose the New Order (Orba) government.

He often opposes New Order's actions that harm many people. This courage made Gus Dur's name appear as a candidate for Indonesia's future leader. The pinnacle of being loved by scholars arrives. Gus Able to become President of Indonesia. However, his critical power has never been lost.

During his time as President of Indonesia Gus Dur often issued a bold policy. He freed ethnic Chinese from holding all his religious agenda without interruption. Mainly Chinese New Year celebrations. He wants to be remembered as the President of Indonesia who stands above all groups.

Gus Dur also appeared as a proposer so that the MPRS Decree No XXV/1966 regarding the dissolution of the PKI and the prohibition of the spread of the teachings of Marxism, Communism and Leninism would soon be revoked. However, people view that Gus Dur's steps are not always positive. Many actually consider Gus Dur's steps controversial. Therefore, Gus Dur's existence on the stage of government has been shaken a lot.

The nine months of government, President Gus Dur actually appeared as a person full of controversy, both in terms of speech and in terms of actions, it was felt that more confusion in society.

From various words made, for example, on a reactive occasion the president accused three of his ministers of being involved in corruption, collusion, and nepotism (KKN). Another opportunity, he wants to pardon former President Suharto, open up Israeli trade relations, remove five members of his cabinet, wanting to remove MPRS' provisions regarding the violations of the teachings of Marxism, Leninism, and Communism, and several other controversial remarks, written in Gus Dur's Political Journey book (2010).

Gus Dur's bold move did not go away when he was no longer at the helm of government. He dared to criticize the government. Moreover, Gus Dur dared to be different from his party's choice, PKB when preparations for the 2004 presidential election took place.

Gus Dur conveyed his party's choice to the Wiranto-Saahuddin Wahid pair. Meanwhile, Gus Dur himself chose to abstain (don't vote) in the 2004 presidential election. A shock decision had been considered in advance. However, the decision first appeared to the general public on May 29, 2004.

Gus Dur considered the decision of the gubernatorial election as an open criticism of the General Election Commission (KPU). Gus Dur felt that the KPU at that time had injured democracy by preventing him from running as a presidential candidate. As a result, his steps for goal - could be - his weapon against injustice.

You want to begolput and be outside the system if Gus Dur is really trying to get out of the PKB, especially from Gus Dur himself. However, his name is also democracy, there are those who support and some refuse.

Several proposals have emerged: PKB proposes other candidates, PKB supports other existing candidates. In PKB itself, especially from regions and kiai, which have been where PKB has asked, sympathy and respect for Gus Dur did not come out in the slightest," explained Mahfud MD in the book Gus Dur: Islam, Politics, and nationality (2010).