“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle,” It might be a little strange to quote Martin Luther King Jr. in this context but I think it absolutely represents what this (authorized) biography of Abdurrahman Wahid is all about. My nation’s first democratically elected president, was misunderstood by international media throughout his 21-month presidency from 1999 to 2001, often portrayed as a clumsy, and even comical, half-blind Muslim cleric. Now, Indonesian history wasn’t part of my curriculum for most of my childhood schooling as I had to live abroad so Greg Barton’s book has definitely helped me gain an insight into how both this man and my country came to be. Gus Dur, as he was colloquially known, became well-equipped with faith and […]