Gus Dur's Childhood Statue Inaugurated By Governor Ahok In History Today, April 25, 2015

Gus Dur's childhood statue at Amir Hamzah Park, Menteng, Central Jakarta. (Between/Reno Esnir)

JAKARTA History today, eight years ago, April 25, 2015, the Governor of DKI Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) inaugurated a childhood statue of former President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) at Amir Hamzah Park, Menteng, Central Jakarta. Ahok considered the presence of the statue to inspire children to diligently read books.

Previously, Gus Dur was known as a true open lover. He was also able to grow up as an intelligent person because he read a lot of books.

Book is window two. That's the view shared by Gus Dur. Reading books has become his hobby since childhood. He reads any books, not only religious books. This activity is perpetuated everywhere. From reading books in the park to bus stops.

His love for books makes Gus Dur able to read more than his peers. Moreover, Gus Dur admits that his insight is getting wider because of the books. His course in reading books also becomes more and more widespread when he studies abroad.

When he studied at Al Azhar University, Egypt, for example. He often considers classrooms not so interesting to visit. It's different to go to the library. He felt that knowledge in the classroom only struggles with materials that were not much different from what he got in Indonesia.

In fact, he can actually get a lot of knowledge from his reading activities. Reading habits also have a positive impact in Gus Dur's life. He was able to stand up to assess a problem with various perspectives.

The benchmark is no longer a useful case or not, but can go anywhere. Everything was proven when he became the Number One Indonesian Person. Gus Dur's ability to weigh a case often came out of the majority opinion. Even though many refuse.

Gus Dur's departure to study abroad, both in the Middle East and in Europe and Canada, seems to have a significant influence on awareness of Islam that is more open and grounded. At the Al Azhar campus, Gus Dur was not very active in studying in classes on the grounds that almost all of the subjects taught at the Al Azhar campus had been studied at Islamic boarding schools while in Indonesia.

Therefore, while in Egypt, Gus Dur reads more books in libraries off campus, especially in the library of the United States Embassy in Cairo. The hobby of reading comics and novels, watching movies, and listening to classical music also continues when he is in Cairo, "explained Ahmad Suaedi in Gus Dur's book, Islam Nusantara & Citizenship of Bineka(2018).

Gus Dur's reading hobby was also able to inspire many parties. The Governor of DKI Jakarta, Ahok is one of those people who are attracted. He wants all children of Jakarta to be inspired by the figure of Gus Dur who likes to read.

As a seriousness, Ahok went directly to inaugurate Gus Dur's childhood statue at Taman Amir Hamzah on April 25, 2015. A statue made of 1.2 meter high bronze with a buffer in the form of a temple as high as 80 cm is considered capable of providing inspiration to children around Menteng.

"When Ahok became governor, Gus Dur's statue was inaugurated. It was located in Taman Amir Hamzah. The statue took a picture of Gus Dur, who was 9 years old in a book reading pose. He made a statue in the area because he had historical value, namely when Gus Dur was a child, he liked to play football there," said M. Iqbal Dawami in his book Tubahlah Duniamu (2022).