Abdurrahman Wahid

Abdurrahman Wahid, who became Indonesia's first democratically elected president in 1999 after half a century of authoritarian rule, died Wednesday in Jakarta. He was 69. Long in failing health, Wahid left an indelible mark on Indonesia as a liberal Muslim cleric who spoke with moral authority and defended the rights of ethnic minorities and the disenfranchised. He had been receiving treatment in the intensive care unit of a Jakarta hospital for the last week. Doctors said the former president, who had long been confined to a wheelchair, unable to see and suffering kidney problems, died during surgery to remove a blood clot in his heart.

Abdurrahman Wahid, who became Indonesia's first democratically elected president in 1999 after half a century of authoritarian rule, died Wednesday in Jakarta. He was 69. Long in failing health, Wahid left an indelible mark on Indonesia as a liberal Muslim cleric who spoke with moral authority and defended the rights of ethnic minorities and the disenfranchised. He had been receiving treatment in the intensive care unit of a Jakarta hospital for the last week. Doctors said the former president, who had long been confined to a wheelchair, unable to see and suffering kidney problems, died during surgery to remove a blood clot in his heart.

Abdurrahman Wahid, a partly blind and frail Muslim cleric who previously had never run for political office, was elected Indonesia's president Wednesday in a stunning upset that steers the world's fourth most populous nation into uncharted waters. The powerful military immediately said it will support Wahid, who won this nation's first free presidential election in 44 years and was quickly sworn in. Wahid's defeated rival, Megawati Sukarnoputri, called on her supporters to respect the result.

Ousted Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid was found guilty of defaming a government official, whom he accused of helping one of former President Suharto's sons escape a jail sentence. Central Jakarta Court Judge Amiruddin Zakaria ordered Wahid to pay $53,000 in damages to former Forestry Ministry official Soeripto, whom Wahid dismissed in March. Soeripto, like many Indonesians, uses only one name.

He travels with a Sony Walkman, indulging in his passion for music, particularly Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Janis Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee." For a trip to Europe, he took along a CD by Jim Reeves. "He's really gotten into country," says an aide. He attended the top Islamic universities in Iraq and Egypt and managed to flunk out of both. He had to repeat two years of high school because he seldom showed up for class, preferring to spend his time in movie theaters and libraries.

President Abdurrahman Wahid walked out of a graft inquiry by senior lawmakers, saying he would not submit to the investigation because it was unconstitutional and politically motivated. Wahid, facing growing demands to resign, denied any wrongdoing when he reluctantly appeared before the panel, which is investigating his alleged involvement in two corruption scandals.

Supporters of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid occupied the Javan port of Surabaja and marched on parliament, warning of a bloody uprising if opponents try to oust him for alleged corruption. The protesters stopped ferries from traveling between Java and the nearby tourist island of Bali, port officials said. In Jakarta, the capital, about 2,000 pro-Wahid students marched toward parliament, burning an opposition party's flag. Wahid called for calm.

Supporters of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid kept up attacks on offices of a rival party as protests raged over parliament's attempt to impeach him. Wahid plans to visit the province of East Java, his party's heartland and center of the protests, to try to restore calm, his spokesman said. The president has refused to step down despite mounting pressure after parliament last week censured him over two corruption scandals and opened the door to his possible impeachment.

Two days after parliament opened the way for his impeachment, President Abdurrahman Wahid appeared on television in an apparent bid to win over the Indonesian people. But his vague, five-minute speech failed to address accusations of corruption and incompetence. He also made no mention of a second parliamentary censure this week that brings him closer to impeachment. Angry lawmakers dismissed Wahid's comments.

Thousands of President Abdurrahman Wahid's supporters attacked a college campus and burned the offices of political opponents who want to speed up his possible impeachment. The unrest in East Java province followed demonstrations against Wahid in Jakarta, the capital, last week and took place just hours before legislators handed documents to police that they say link him to two corruption scandals.

Deposed Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, arriving in the United States for medical treatment Friday, conceded that he is no longer the leader of his nation but insisted that his ouster was unlawful. "They have done an unconstitutional thing," he told reporters at Dulles International Airport outside Washington. "The constitution will only be upheld by people like myself." Asked if he still should be president according to his country's constitution, Wahid said: "Oh, yes.

Ousted President Abdurrahman Wahid gave up his desperate attempt to regain power Wednesday and agreed to vacate the presidential palace today but warned against the return of authoritarian rule. Wahid, who maintains that he is still legally and morally president despite his dismissal by the People's Consultative Assembly, forecast "the return of censorship" and predicted that his successor, Megawati Sukarnoputri, would not last more than three months in office.

President Abdurrahman Wahid, whose 21-month rule over the world's fourth-most-populous country was marked by mounting chaos and bloody regional conflicts, was removed from office Monday by Indonesia's top legislative body. By a vote of 591 to 0, the People's Consultative Assembly dismissed the erratic, nearly blind president despite his issuance of a decree in the middle of the night prohibiting the assembly from meeting.

In a desperate attempt to hold on to power, President Abdurrahman Wahid issued an emergency decree early today "freezing" the nation's highest governing body as it prepared to vote him out of office. As the nation plunged into a constitutional crisis, leaders of the People's Consultative Assembly defied the president's directive, convened within hours and prepared to dismiss him.

The People's Consultative Assembly started an impeachment hearing today, less than an hour after President Abdurrahman Wahid accused lawmakers of treason and announced that he would boycott proceedings against him. The hearing at the heavily guarded legislature got underway as Wahid's minority National Awakening Party and some other small pro-Wahid groups said they also would not participate.

Thousands of police and soldiers staged a show of force outside Indonesia's parliament Tuesday amid fears of violence in the lead-up to next month's expected ouster of President Abdurrahman Wahid. Police and army chiefs reviewed about 6,000 troops inside the heavily guarded parliamentary complex. A dozen armored vehicles and lines of police motorcycles were parked nearby.

President Abdurrahman Wahid dismissed fears of an explosion of unrest as he flew out of Indonesia, but bloodshed escalated into beheadings even before he boarded his plane. More than 142 people have been slaughtered in a revival this week of ethnic violence in remote Central Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, officials and media said.

Two small explosions occurred during an otherwise peaceful Islamic prayer rally in support of beleaguered Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid. At least seven people were injured when two small glass bottles containing an undetermined chemical exploded within seconds of one another near a tightly guarded area filled with 30,000 Wahid supporters, police said. There were no claims of responsibility for the attack at the rally in Jakarta, the capital.

Indonesian legislators vowed to push ahead with a drive to remove President Abdurrahman Wahid from office next month, ignoring his call for talks and rejecting a threat to impose emergency rule. Irate after several parties boycotted a meeting he called in a bid to end the political crisis, Wahid warned that he would dissolve the nation's two legislative houses and rule by decree unless his opponents abandoned their effort to oust him.

Police commanders and key legislators dealt President Abdurrahman Wahid another blow, rejecting his decision to oust the national police chief. Enraged that police killed one of his supporters in protests in his home province, Wahid requested the resignation of Gen. Suroyo Bimantoro on Friday and ordered the deputy chief to assume command of the country's 220,000 officers.